Victim Mentality
By Dustin B. Denson
Disjunctive Fallacy is a fancy name for when you are presented with two choices, but there are really more. It is also called the Either/Or Fallacy. So, it would be fallacious - bad reasoning - to believe that there are only two when there are more, but a lot of choices are presented like that.
You know what isn't a disjunctive fallacy? - The choice to play the role of the victim or not play the role of the victim. You can make the choice to change your circumstances or change what you believe about your circumstances to get out of the victim mentality.
Victim mentality is when you get stuck in the routine of believing that all these bad things are happening to you when it may be the case that some of them are happening for you. That is, if you have the right perspective or mindset about it. You can choose to view a set of circumstances as an opportunity to change and grow instead of simply accepting it and wallowing in self-pity.
For example, you have a choice to change your health and not just accept things the way they are. You can improve your eating habits (not a diet; you actually have to change your lifestyle, which is better anyway) and you can exercise. This doesn't happen overnight. You can gradually change what you eat over time. You can start exercising slowly, modifying the exercises you are doing. That is how you change. Change your habits and change your life.
Another example is self-defense. You can live in fear of being attacked and not being able to protect yourself or you can take some steps to learn how to protect yourself and/or your loved ones. That doesn't mean you have to become some kind of martial arts master. No, but you can take some classes to learn about situational awareness, basic counters to attacks and basic attacks, and/or become certified to carry a handgun and learn how to use it.
My point is simple. Don't be a victim...with anything. You don't have to do that. And, you really only have two options.
