As if maintaining self-esteem isn’t challenging enough, here comes April Fools’ Day – that annual ritual that gives friends and foes alike a license to entertain themselves by playing practical jokes and perpetrating hoaxes at the expense of others. Fortunately, most adults have the ego strength to survive this one sanctioned day of widespread deception. So you’ll feel a little stupid, naïve, gullible, and vulnerable. If you’re lucky, it will all be over within a few hours.
Sadly, some endure a lot more deception than a few goofy April Fools’ Day stunts. Surely we’ve all been taken in by a few ‘too-good-to-be-true’ deals or by ‘we-wish-they-were-true-but-they-weren’t’ stories, excuses, or explanations. But these falsehoods pale by comparison to the most damaging of all deceptions – the lies you tell to yourself.
Don’t fool yourself. You don’t have to. There are many who will gladly volunteer to pull the wool over your eyes without your assistance. Call it denial. Call it avoidance. When you lie you are, for all intents and purposes, protecting yourself in a sticky self-made web of deception that will eventually trap you. Sooner or later, you’ll end up feeling alienated, isolated, embarrassed, and painfully alone. When all is said and done, you’ll have nobody to thank but yourself.
During times like these, you gotta get honest ASAP. You certainly won’t be doing yourself any favors by anesthetizing your fears with lies, drugs, alcohol, food, shopping, video games, infidelity, gambling, or any of those other excessive behaviors designed to avoid tough decisions and prolong the inevitable. Unless and until you face the facts, get real, and act in alignment with your values, you will only exacerbate your pain and put your relationships and psychological/physical well-being at risk.
For your own sake, face the facts. Assess your situation in light of the way things really are, not the way you wish they were. Adjust your behavior to suit the demands of these changing times. Give yourself permission to feel and share your authentic feelings (especially the difficult ones) with trusted friends and family members. If you do these things, you are likely to draw others to you and will feel supported and validated during these difficult times.
Call Debbie to schedule a consultation with her for therapy/coaching in Valencia at 661-259-5986 or Encino at 818-385-0550.