I’m incredibly stubborn. As a teenager, when I was sick I would refuse anything that was suggested to make it better. Paracetamol, soup, vegetables, rest, hot water bottle. It wasn’t even down to laziness either. Mum would be standing at my bedside, armed with an arsenal of scientifically proven remedies. All I had to do was accept that I had a problem and take the very simple steps to begin the process of recovery. Like the idiot I was, I chose to suffer. I don’t even think it was a case of trying to be manly and put up with it, but thinking that if I ignored it, it would go away by itself.
Ignore the problem until it goes away. I kept repeating this process in every area of my life until my mid-twenties. I still have to fight this urge today. This method works with a simple cold but what if it was a malignant tumour? Would it have gone away by itself? I’m not a doctor but I doubt it. What happens when this problem is a relationship issue? One that’s on a fast track to divorce but we avert our attention. We tolerate the sickness.
Tolerating sickness
We tolerate being fat, being paid less than we want, being treated poorly and being in unsatisfying relationships. We say we want to lose weight, yet we do nothing and continue to make poor decisions. You can pursue whatever goal you want but if you want to lose weight don’t open that bag of potato chips. Don’t tolerate sickness.
So ask yourself, what’s the point of being aware of a problem if you aren’t going to do something to remedy it?
What a waste of our sentience. Are we just pot plants who need to be watered by a babysitter or else we’ll shrivel up and die? Or do we have the power to water ourselves?
Next post I’ll look at steps to remedy your problems.