NicolaHaskell

without installing another distro over the top of it ... [replace] package managers

The package manager is the distro, though.

$ pacman -S apk-tools
$ apk add alpine-base linux-lts

Then kexec to alpine's kernel and the initramfs generated by its installation (which would incidentally "replace" PID 1 with the new /sbin/init). For clean up you could take a diff of "tar -t" for all the installed packages from both distros then delete the files only in the old distro's packages.

Make a self-compiled distro your target.

Replace the first step with a compilation of apk, abuild everything required by alpine-base and linux-lts (git clone aports to bootstrap that work), then add the package directory to /etc/apk/repositories before the second step. Next, begin to worry that you haven't fully broken free yet, replace abuild with a bespoke mybuild and apk with tar -x, grapple with signed binaries, reflect on your own identity and authenticity, then take a tour through gentoo and find yourself missing the $HOME you left and its familiar comforts.

The Ghost of Reagan enjoys credit for growth that follows his destruction

This is that special blend of Tablet Kid "I don't need to know things I can google them" and Rich Kid "I don't need to do things I can crowdsource them" that makes for that Distinctively VP "I don't know what I'm doing and nobody can tell 👈😎👉"

Catholics are professionals at expressing deep love for the "best friends" they met ten minutes ago the night before disappearing from their lives entirely

I know there is something in me that I need to change, but I don’t know what, and I need some assistance.

The ability to recognize, cherish, and wield the quirks and stereotypes we inherited, maybe?

I'll tap in for Brother Bear!

What are you trying to solve here beyond indulging guilt? Your last sentence is outright asking to be told you're bad. If you want validation or excuse for that you can go to confession or seek diagnosis (which might fairly fit into your plan, I'm not judging).

You say, "If you steal from someone ... saying sorry doesn’t do much for me because if you were sorry, you wouldn’t have done it in the first place." I hear, "avoidance". Apologies are promises, commitments, and covenants, not regret and remorse. Simply Feeling Bad is the relinquished barfly's philosophy and doesn't accomplish much but prolonging the bad feeling.

Talking anonymously online or in person can be a healthy start to validate and work through both the stealing and the secrecy, but growing beyond those releases all The Stuff so you can exist honestly and authentically with your pack.

I think we're going through Cold War 2 before World War 3. China and Russia have been testing krill fishing limits recently while American private equity has entered the field, and the TikTok showdown is testing Internet authority.

Anybody reading Aristophanes in these times of demagogues and world wars? I just finished Birds and Peace. Studies of democracy, Greek hegemony, and hellenization feel like a refresher on familiar problems and their perspectives. I think he was writing about 250 years after Homer, and today we're writing about 250 years after the US framers.