If you're in a coma, is that your fault? If you have narcolepsy, is it your fault? If you wake up having hit a snooze button that you didn't consciously push, is that your fault? If you have a medical condition that makes it harder for you to wake up than for 99.8% of the population, is that your fault? There's a line somewhere, and I don't think the author of the original article crossed it.
I think the point here is that everything today is considered a "medical condition". While that makes sense from a medical perspective, all it does is give people excuses for not dealing with their problems. "I can't get to work on time, I have Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome". "I can't focus in class, I have Attention Deficit Disorder". These are genuine difficulties that afflicted people will have to face, but don't ask the whole world to change to fit your circumstances.
Note, I was in and out of specialist children's hospitals for a good year or two while doctors tried to diagnose the reason my brain works differently to theirs. I have a certain set of psychological challenges I have to overcome, but I don't sit around whining about it all day.
all it does is give people excuses for not dealing with their problems.
Even the original article didn't do that. The author lists several steps he took to improve his condition. He just wanted people to avoid useless guilt, he didn't give them a free pass.
here's some specific quotes I'm taking aim at here:
She was so relieved simply to know that she didn’t have a problem; or more specifically, she was relieved to know that her problem was real. For she had gone all these years thinking that she was just lazy.
For all of those of you out there suffering under the weight of your inability to wake up early each morning, consider this one giant pardon.
the post comes off as one giant "it's ok to put your hand up and say 'I have a named medical condition so can I be excused from class'". That could just be my biased interpretation though as I've come across such a mindset before and tend to react very angrily to it. If that's not the message at all then consider my rant misplaced.
It seems like you're pulling out all the stops to avoid the uncomfortable point: the vast, vast majority of us are normal and don't have a convenient excuse for our poor sleep habits.
>If you wake up having hit a snooze button that you didn't consciously push, is that your fault?
Absolutely. 1000%. Move your alarm. Hide it. Make it not turn off until you do math problems. Have a friend call you. Set your computer to set off such an unholy alarm that your neighbors will hear. Buy one of those alarm helicopters that flies around the room until you catch it. Do what you have to do.
It is your responsibility and yours alone to wake up early enough to meet the obligations that you made for yourself.
There is a subtler point to be made that is (perhaps unintentionally) hinted at by the author of this article and sp332. At what point does a disruptive, repetitive, and persistent behavior go from being simple laziness or irresponsibility to a "disease"? If you believe that the mind is a purely physical thing and therefore that all behavior is the result of the body's composition and environment, then the only thing you can do is draw a line somewhere and call one group of behaviors "disease" and the other group "irresponsibility."
You're not. Go live amongst the trees and be a beautiful independent spirit and write a great American novel.
All this author is saying is that if you CHOOSE to make commitments and then fail to honor them, you're not an awful person, but yes you should feel guilty for that. On that, I agree.
When you accept a job, or a meeting invite, you are making an explicit committment to a work schedule or an appointment. That is a personal committment that you chose to make. If you sleep through it, you failed your committment and should feel like it.
If you're in a coma, is that your fault? If you have narcolepsy, is it your fault? If you wake up having hit a snooze button that you didn't consciously push, is that your fault? If you have a medical condition that makes it harder for you to wake up than for 99.8% of the population, is that your fault? There's a line somewhere, and I don't think the author of the original article crossed it.