People don't like acknowledging the truth when it's uncomfortable. Do you? I mean how many times do you have to hear "Joe, I think you have a problem with alcohol..." before you actually stop and think "Do I have a problem with alcohol?" instead of immediately jumping to "No I don't!!"? That's the way we roll, especially when we are engaged in a self-destructive pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving that others DO and HAVE noticed. Time to get a clue. Do you want to live in the truth and actually heal, change for the better, and grow spiritually as a person? Or do you want to wallow in the muck of your own bullsh** as you have been comfortably familiar with for however long? You decide.
During the holiday season, all the ugly seems to come out of people as easily as moms and grandmas pull those sugar cookies out of the oven. Anxiety is the number one mental health issue on our planet and has been for a very long time. Why would this fact surprise you if it does right now? We are all anxious. Grant it, not everyone is anxious to the point of "Flight or Flight" feelings on a daily basis...or constant worrying....or chronic panic attacks at work or while driving. To experience each day or evening in an ongoing state of fear and trepidation is certainly no one's idea of "living the dream".
So what do people do in order to "solve" their ongoing problem with their own "above average" experiences with anxiety on a regular enough basis? O.K., I'll wait. Believe me, we do NOT jump to call a licensed psychotherapist or join a community-based support group---or even talk to our own doctor about this issue. What we choose to do instead is swallow, smoke, or "do" more of the things that make us feel better quickly without regard for the long-term consequences. Because? Because we are delusional and in denial enough to expect relief fasterthanyoucanreadthis that's why! After all, it's easier to function when we believe our own bullsh** and bullsh**-based remedies than it is to face our own uncomfortable truths!
I used to weigh 300 lbs. Yeah, that's right. I was fat. Not just fat. I was morbidly obese fat. I can't remember now exactly what my BMI was...but I know it was over 40% at that time. So what did I do about it from age 43 to age 61? I kept eating whatever I wanted, that's what! Great plan for weight management success, don't you agree? Not! I was delusional. I was in denial. And I was of course angry at myself and the world everytime I saw a woman of my height and similar build pass me by through my own life who was half my size. Yep, there are always signs and signals that present themselves to us which scream "Pay attention to this!". Except in my case, I just got angry and went to find something to eat when those signs and signals presented themselves to me.
Speaking of anger, that's another huge "tool" we use when we are frustrated by situations and circumstances that trigger our stress and anxious feelings. It is so much easier to believe that acting out in anger is a reasonable choice when our frustrations have reached a boiling point. Question is, reasonable for who? Not the person or people on the receiving end of that anger, that's for sure! Yet, we keep using anger as a go-to when we don't know any better---or don't want to know any better. Shame on us all for that (like me!) when we have inappropriately acted out on our anger directly tied to our own unresolved issue with anxiety!
I am reminded of someone who is in the process of separating from his wife. They have two small girls; one of them is barely out of diapers. He has ongoing anxiety, but his own "treatment" for it has been to try the latest "this can help you!" de rigueur drug of the moment. In his case, mushrooms, snake venom, and ketamine. Now there's a plan. What's the point of actually working to improve one's current mental health issue by doing what we "feel" like instead of "what's" right? Oh by the way, this person's parents have been drug and alcohol abusers for decades. Does anyone have to wonder how substance abuse can rear its ugly head and jump from generation to generation? Doh!
I think of another someone who has used multiple elective surgeries as a tool to gain access to opioids. Now there's a plan guaranteed to fail! What have we come to as a culture in order to prove ourselves "correct" in our own minds? Oh geez. Silly me. The vaccination debate people have been barking about for the past two years is a prime example!
Believing our own bullsh** is easy for us. We all want to be and play "God" sooner or later in our own lives. That's our human nature at work. If I can convince you that taking 1,000 mg. of vitamin C a day will prevent you and I from getting Covid (or treating it more successfully!)---who cares if the facts dictate otherwise? Who cares about the facts when our own version of them are so much easier to swallow?
Sooner or later, we all need to face what we would rather not face. Nobody can deny away or pretend away a harsh reality of their own life that is taking them down---and has been---for a very long time. Like the husband who was a gambling, cheating, and alcoholic narcissist on blast....but whose family members kept insisting "He's a great guy!" Huh?!? No, he's not. He's a gambling, cheating, and alcoholic narcissist on blast! Wake the *$) up!
But as we know, it's much easier to stay asleep than it is to wake up---or be "woke".
Truth...or bullsh**. You decide.
Until next post...