Okay, Tiger Woods, here goes:
First of all, get back on the pro golf tour immediately, and try to win as many as possible. People still love you.
Second, stop mugging for the cameras. You've been doing that to impress others (who I won't mention). Every time you miss a shot you've begun to grimace and contort your body, etc. It's not natural. It's put-on. So, it's not the real you. You miss, you miss. Just be cool like you always were.
Third, give as many interviews as possible in which you will begin by saying what you started saying when this scandal broke - that is, say that you're not a perfect person - by a long shot. Indicate that your fame and your wealth went to your head and that you began living a compartmentalized life. In any event, whether you know it or not, that's the truth.
With respect to living such a compartmentalized life, in one compartment you, your wife, children, and other immediate family members were bona fide members. The other compartment was populated by fantasy people gratifying your impulses that were already in the stratosphere. And when one's impulses are in the stratosphere, then one's presumed inner controls are nowhere to be found. And that was (and hopefully, no longer is) your problem. And you should talk about it that way because if you do you will be speaking truth.
The problem in living such a compartmentalized life is that communication between compartments is non-existent. Therefore, for one, each compartment is sealed, and second, the compartments are highly discrepant with respect to their respective themes so that no synapse can be made between them. In other words, there are two Tiger Woods - one in each compartment. In one compartment you're Tiger Woods the family man/golf genius, and in the other you're walking on water.
It's a hard way to live, Tiger.
Furthermore, you were acting-out some grandiose conquest fantasy over and over, and the point of it all is that it would never stop because it never answered the underlying issue. What is the underlying issue? Well, my guess is that you couldn't quite smoothly compute how great you really were. And what I mean doesn't only apply to your golf mastery. It's more about what that mastery brought -a beautiful wife and children, fame, and most importantly - that's right, most importantly - a billionaire's wealth.
Let me explain. You were able to easily assimilate the events in your life that led to your marriage, your children, and your success on the golf course. But to assimilate the over-the-top adulation, the wealth, and all that goes with it, actually was what sent you into the stratosphere and then of course, it was what brought you down.
Now with respect to your acting-out of it all, what this means is that you were doing something instead of knowing something. And what you were not facing (and thereby not knowing) was related to the business of the adulation and great wealth that also confirmed the adulation. You weren't able to assimilate that so well and so instead of confronting it, discussing it, thinking about it, etc. you did something to address your disbelief about it all. What you did was jump into the fray and behave as though the adulation and wealth could be confirmed for you that way - through conquest. It was an unconscious attempt on your part to integrate both mind sets: to wit, one mind set that you were able to assimilate and that you were living (that of the family man/golf genius) and the other of the stratospheric God that you were living-out. The problem was that never the twain shall meet. So because basically these two mind-sets would never be able to be integrated, then without this insight, you were destined to keep repeating the conundrum of your life which was: Who was this guy with all this money and adulation?
You've got to explain all of this in the interviews you grant. And you should grant as many interviews as possible, and talk your head off. And keep playing golf, and try to keep winning, and don't wince at every little thing when you miss.
Now with respect to your wife, kids, and mother, I would suggest you keep explaining all of this to them personally. Remember, marriage is no picnic. If you have a family (which you do) you've got to fight for it (if you still want it), and you've got to fight with your wife to persuade her for you both to get through this. We all have the scars of life that we live with. She needs to know that you love her and that's it. And she needs to hear that you were a crazy man for a while but that that's over.
Finally, find a good shrink and talk it all over and raise the issue I'm discussing with you here. And have sessions with your wife as well. And trust me, it's very cool to see a shrink - and not just for one session. You've got to keep talking. It's what makes us different from lizards or amoeba. We can talk!
Good luck. Good talking.
Henryism:
Some women can have the man they can't have, and can't have the man they can have.
See: Love Is Not Enough: What It Takes To Make It Work
http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/A2044C.aspx
The Dictionary Corner
Oppositional Disorder - A condition seen in children who protest, have temper tantrums, insist on getting what they want, when they want it, and in an overall sense, have difficulty delaying gratification.
Pre-morbid - The general personality preceding the onset of pathology.
Seminal emission - An ejaculation during sleep based upon a sexual dream. Also referred to as a wet dream.
See: Dictionary of Psychopathology
http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14650-0/dictionary-of-psyc...
