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Perhaps a relationship you once hoped would fulfil you in every way, started to lose its
spontaneity, passion, honesty and excitement. Perhaps those endearing little traits became or
were replaced by, annoying habits he wouldn’t change. Maybe fear crept in. Fear of causing
pain by revealing the truth of your feelings. Fear of acceptance that some of the responsibility
for the problems might be yours. Fear of confrontation, fear of loss, fear of pain.

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Could it be that a career path that had been your lifelong vocation turned out to be soul
destroying, disappointing or damaging to your self worth? Maybe you put on a brave face and
tried to work through it, convincing yourself you couldn’t have made such a wrong choice, but
subconsciously knowing the truth?

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You may have acquired all the things you had hoped for. Perhaps you have been, had and
done all you set out to be, have and do, only to discover your happiness was marred by a
gnawing sense of dissatisfaction? This torturous discontent is bewildering and you feel trapped.

You may have everything you thought would constitute a perfect life only to find yourself
asking : “What’s missing? How did this happen? What do I do now?”.

The most common reactions to crossroads in life like the examples given here, are various types
of denial. In an effort to drown out our inner voice of discontent, rather than face our inner truths
and get back on course to happiness, we busy ourselves even more than usual, in the wishful
state that some magical solution will make things right. Once we allow it to control our thoughts
and behaviours, it has us in a powerful, vice-like grip that is difficult to escape.

Denial is a coping mechanism that gives you time to adjust to distressing situations — but staying
in denial can interfere with treatment or your ability to tackle challenges. If you're in denial,
you're trying to protect yourself by refusing to accept the truth about something happening in
your life.

Types of Denial

Denial through Distraction Distraction is itself a form of denial, in that we can allow ourselves to
become almost subconsciously preoccupied with other things, like addictive behaviours, work,
excessive spending, or caring for others that we can end up becoming control freaks or
achievement junkies, anything to avoid dealing with the painful issues we know at a
subconscious level we must eventually face.