WE NEED A NEW PLAGUE.

       FACT.     the majority of Dwight’s self-esteem and assurance comes from his usefulness to other people.  he was tasked with an overwhelming heap of responsibility from an early age  ( “in the Schrute family, the youngest child always raises the others” )  and as such, always had an enormous amount of pressure on him throughout his formative years.        he has a burning desire to prove himself in every aspect of his life, partially due to both what was expected of him and various things he failed to accomplish  ( i.e., “i was shunned from the age of four until my sixth birthday for not saving the excess oil from a can of tuna” )  as well as the near-constant mockery and bullying he received from his peers at school.      over the years, he’s become more comfortable discussing his upbringing and his family’s traditions, in which he now takes great pride.  his customs, norms and interests were vastly different from those around him, and earned him a great deal of undue judgment and isolation.  he was the target of bullying for years  ( “ [...] and no one would play with me.  for fifteen years, they called me freak and four eyes and sci-fi nerd and girl puncher” )  mainly due to his inability to pick up on social cues and properly express himself, or his unintentionally blunt / hurtful statements and actions.        a large portion of his interest in karate and weaponry came from a desire to better defend himself from “potential attackers”, and to compensate for the countless times he returned home with a busted lip or broken glasses or ruined clothing, which would always earn a lecture from his mother.  the often caustic and defensive personality he displays today is a direct result of the time he spent as other people’s plaything and source of mockery, and another reason why he detests Jim having fun at his expense.        tl;dr  -  he’s fairly confident in himself, but it’s taken him a long-ass time to get there, and he absolutely still struggles with that little gnawing seed of doubt that’s taken root in the back of his head.