Basic self-help, dressed as a medieval knight

Some thoughts on aestheticized self-help advice

If you have spent any time around the online self-help sphere, or read a few self-help books, then you will likely have a rough idea of what I mean when I talk about the aesthetic dramatization of basic self-help advice. It is something that actually really used to annoy me, and still does in certain contexts (e.g., Marcus Aurelius being reduced to a gymbro with a sick beard). However, I have warmed to some of it over the years. Here is why.