[Something about this whole conversation gets him thinking about when he was younger -- having so little, wanting so much, lashing out blindly and desperately at the world.]

[That person is still in him somewhere. Some of it has fallen away as he gained power and adult confidence, but it's not as if the need for affirmation or the urge to grasp at power and strike out at authority just disappeared.]

You aren't alone.

[He pauses, trying to formulate his next words the way he wants them to be.]

Everyone else might not see the battles we have to fight against ourselves. But at the very least, there are others who have to fight those same battles and understand.