“We tell ourselves stories in order to live,” Joan Didion wrote — and, later in the essay, “I was supposed to have a script, and had mislaid it,” recounting “a time when I began to doubt the premises of all the stories I had ever told myself, a common condition but one I found troubling.”

D. R. commented that I was a “sick man,” and to “get over” myself.

Thank you ChatGPT for clarifying what this means:

The expression “to get over yourself” is an idiomatic phrase used to convey the idea of someone needing to stop being self-centered, self-important, or excessively focused on their own thoughts, opinions, or concerns.

It suggests that the person should let go of their inflated ego, self-absorption, or excessive self-importance and adopt a more humble, open-minded, or considerate attitude.

When someone tells another person to “get over yourself,” they are often implying that the individual is being too self-centered, arrogant, or egotistical.

It is a way of suggesting that the person should shift their focus away from themselves and consider the perspectives, needs, or feelings of others.

It is an invitation to develop a more balanced or empathetic approach in their interactions and attitudes.

Thank you for the invitation. Perhaps I’ve mislaid the script. Not remembering correctly, or rather remembering all too well but misinterpreting, seeing the situation, the turn of unfortunate events, from an insular, wounded, self-centered point of view. I can doubt the premise of that story, delete that story from the stories I tell myself.

Unwelcome advice from a secret stalker, a jolt from the blue, seriously taken.

What now? Plenty of other stories to fill life’s pages. New chapters to be written.