Living In Denial

Reality is often disappointing. You roll out of bed, walk to the fridge and open it. It’s empty, save for a few bottles of water. You already knew that, but you pretend to be shocked anyways. With determination, you enter the bath to freshen up before going out for the days work. As you brush your teeth, you catch your reflection in the mirror and wince. Still ugly.

Delay is not denial but it’s been two weeks and your uncle from upstate still hasn’t returned your calls. At this point, you start to suspect that he’s lost your number, but you can see his status updates on WhatsApp so can this be the case? You settle for the fact that maybe just maybe he’s busy gathering all the money you asked for. Happy days! Is this normal? Are you normal?

Here’s how you know you’re living in denial.

“I am not an addict, I can always stop”. Stop now? You know drinking excessive amounts of soft drinks is bad for your health and you’ve sworn to stop, but something is holding you back. It’s not addiction, that’s such a strong word.

Marilyn: Any day I want to stop taking coca-cola, I’ll stop.

Gottfried: Can that day be today sweetie?

Marilyn: Err I already took a bottle today, let’s try again tomorrow…

Gottfried: You don’t say?

There is much fish in the sea. What if all that’s left is electric fish, jellyfish, whales, and sharks. My brother, today is a good day to tell yourself the bitter truth. You didn’t get her by your looks or boyish charm, she’s just really poor at making decisions. Staying true to yourself, you managed to mess it up. Gear up, it’s a shark attack!

“That’s just how I am”. For the love of God, stop being like that. Does foolishness run in your family? Yeah maybe but still, cut it out. I know people who try to make excuses for their shitty behavior by attributing it to their zodiac signs.

“My sign shows I’m a cancer”. This joke writes itself.

Ignoring your Guardian Angel. The Angel assigned to you is fed up when he sees you opening yet another can of booze. You don’t have a borrowing problem, but if you attempt to pay back all your debt, you’ll have a brand new set of creditors. It’s time to hand over the controls to your Guardian Angel. You’ve tried your own and it’s landed you in two gutters in three weekends.

Fire brigade. Little Miss-Last-Minute won’t start making preparations until the very last second and have the nerve to act surprised when things fall apart. You had semester-long to prepare for the examination and on the day the question paper looks like it was written in Chinese. Borrowing a leaf from the good book, I will laugh at your calamity.

Is there an easy way out? Hell no. It won’t be easy. Acknowledging the loss of a loved one will drain you, but ultimately it’s for the best. Getting someone to snap out of denial is twice as difficult. It could be your parents. Experts say you could go through someone they respect and/or a clergyman. But know this, different day, same story…