First of all, major and heartfelt kudos for your self-diagnosis. You are way ahead of the curve in even noticing the syndrome…
It’s hard, being bombarded with differing standards and punative results for “faulty” judgments on all the raw input. Frankly, it can be a lot of noise drowning out the contradictory need for fine discrimination. Feebly restating the OP, after a while everything is notable for flaws rather than successes.
The art (and so it is) of criticism is grown, not born, and I swear it’s nurtered best with tolerance in equal measure to surgical precision. GD would be a better venue for dissecting what criticism is and isn’t, but you’ve already made the huge first step: analysis and thought do not equal attack. Cynicism is cheap; thought isn’t.
From the sublime to the ridiculous, I remember a book bit from Jane and Howard Stern, very bright and perceptive folks. She first noticed him at a Ivy League dorm lounge. The terribly earnest and angst ridden achievers were huddled around the tv, pontificating about terribly earnest things. He quietly got up and changed the channel to an old Elvis movie. They protested and Michael Stern shrugged; he *saw> what he was looking at.
“Educated” isn’t taste-du-jour platitudes. It’s lifelong, messy as hell, and encompasses
a hell of a lot more than easy answers.
You’re on the path, kiddo.
Veb