“It’s not denial. I’m just selective about the reality I accept.” ~Bill Watterson

Some folks build a protective reality that allows them to turn a blind eye to the way things really are, not the way they might want those things to be.

Fake news. Alternative facts.

And I’m not only referring to politics here; all of us bury our heads in the sand on occasion, creating alternative realities. It could be to shield us from hurt, pain, or loss. Could be that we are emotionally or intellectually incapable of dealing with whatever the situation entails. Mental illness, declining cognitive functioning, or substance abuse issues come to mind as examples.

Business funnel drying up? Your friend, spouse, family member ill? Past due bills accumulating?

Hope is not a strategy for creating different results.

Denial is the easiest, most readily available tool we humans have for avoiding an unpleasant, uncomfortable or inconvenient reality. “It’s not happening!”

It’s a natural, reflexive, first response.

But choosing to stay there, for months or even years, is not only ineffective, it’s lazy.

Denial is a coward’s way out of perceived present day pain.

Pain is pain is pain. If your current reality sucks based on circumstances, better to deal with that inconvenient reality head on, in the present, than to carry it with you to be dealt with in the future.

Because you will. Pain deferred is pain multiplied.

Denial is destructive—in the long-term.

Pay the bill now, take a hard look at the way it is, and avoid huge interest charges in the future on your denial loan in the present.

“Delay is the deadliest form of denial.” ~C. Northcote Parkinson