I’ve been training in the AI simulator and building “breakwaters” against the outside world. But you can’t measure the true stability of an OS by staying in a miniature garden forever. I decided to impose a “harsh rehabilitation” on myself: just observing from a distance the place where I once “died in battle”—the office districts and construction sites.
The Minefield of Memory Flashbacks
I took the train and followed my old commute route. The moment I stepped onto the platform, I felt my lungs tighten. The swarms of people in suits. The loud departure bells. To me, these were the sounds of the “Social Heavy Machinery” that had crushed me.
“Will I be swallowed by that vortex again?” “You can’t go back in there.”
The red alert in my brain flashed, and the ground began to shake violently.
Inspecting through the “Emotional Filter” of AI
My smartphone in my pocket supported me. With trembling hands, I typed to the AI: “I’m near my old workplace. My heart is racing. Describe this scenery objectively as just ‘physical structures.’ Strip away all my emotions attached to it.”
The AI immediately returned a dry “site report“:
“Subject is a reinforced concrete structure, 20 stories high. Average wind speed 3 meters. Pedestrian flow is within normal range. What exists there is simply an accumulation of matter; it is not a life form with the intent to attack you. You are currently in a safe observation point.”
This cold objectivity anchored my brain to reality. That’s right. That building is just a box. That crowd is just a moving mass. My emotions were simply painting them with the color “Enemy.”
Victory in “Observing” instead of “Returning”
In the end, I didn’t go to the building’s entrance. I just watched the scene from a park bench for 10 minutes and headed home. The old me would have called this “fleeing” or “defeat.”
But the current me is different. “Reconnaissance of a minefield and returning without a panic attack.” This is a successful “test construction” in rehabilitation. Being able to view the former battlefield as just a landscape—that single step applied a new “external resistance” patch to my OS.
The Xer’s Monologue
Going to traumatic places is like jumping into fire naked. Don’t try to fight it head-on. Wear AI as your “heat-resistant gear” and just look through binoculars from afar. Thinking “I have to return” is what makes it painful.
Give yourself an excuse: “I’m just here for a tour.” If you breathed the air of the site and came home safely, today’s work is a 120-point success.
“Bit by bit, rewrite the former battlefield into ‘just a place’ on your map. That’s how you take the ground back.”
Got it done.
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