Philadelphia: Cheesesteaks

[MaggieL]

Originally posted by sycamore


WHERE was the denial?

Ah! Now that I have your attention...:-)

The denial is sweeping something you don't want to think about off your mental stage, to avoid the cognitive dissonance. Like "I've only been smoking for six years..." as if that was just day-tripping. or "I smoke...well...a lot, really". I won't ask you how much "a lot" is--it's so much that you don't even want to put a number on it.

But you've had a wake-up call. Now you've been told the problem is "something muscular" ...presumably because there's no conduction defect showing up in your cardiogram. (Of course, the heart is a muscle, too...)

Maybe the nurse wouldn't lecture you because he or she smokes hirself. But I quit many years ago, so I don't have that problem.

You heard an alarm go off when you were told you have an enlarged heart and diminished vital capacity. But now they've told you your strip is clean and cholesterol is low, so it's bring on the cheesesteaks...

That alarm was real. It's telling you *you* know the smokes are killing you. And now that the immediate emergency is over, you're ready to sweep that alrm back under the carpet again, because the thought of breaking the tobacco addiction is too scary. "It's too hard" you tell yourself..."I'll never get though it, and it will just make my weight problem worse. I need something to smooth me out when I get nervous. It's my only vice, leave me alone..."

Sound familiar?