Once you’ve accepted something as a part of yourself or your identity, it will be very hard to get you to change your mind about it. That’s why even if that very belief of yours is killing you, you’ll conveniently be blind to it and instead choose to focus only on the facts that support your stand on the matter. This is still part of the very thing I said about truth being selective, because in the end, we refuse to force ourselves to face the bitter truth, choosing only the ones we’re most comfortable with.
And many times, this is only tantamount to digging a grave for ourselves, because refusing to accept a truth does not mean that the consequences of whatever we’re doing will not catch up with us. It’s how they say in law that ignorance is no defense. If you commit a crime, you have to pay the price. In the same way, refusing to acknowledge that something is bad for you won’t protect you when the repercussions come for you. That’s the truth.
In a way, you can say that such people are delusional. Because they only choose what they want to believe, and could even get aggressive or violent with anyone who brings forth a contrary opinion. That’s how crazy it can be.
One major example of this is smokers. There are those who know they are addicts and are actively trying to get off it. Yeah, they fall off from time to time, but what matters is that they know they have a problem and are trying to get help. But then, there are those who don’t even know they’re addicts and are under the illusion that they have it under control. They don’t realize that they’re living under its control instead.
Back when I was in school, at least 6 in every 10 people you came across were smokers, and chronic smokers at that. When you think about how badly this affects them, you’d be shocked. There are those who can’t eat without smoking first. Imagine having your taste buds dulled so much that, unless you smoke, nothing you put in your mouth would have taste. It would be like eating chaff. And then, there are those who cook their food with these things. When sane people put thyme and curry in their stew or noodles, they put in weed.
Is that the worst? Hell no! They’re always looking for a reason to smoke. It’s like an unspoken rule that when two or three are gathered, weed must be smoked. Like… must there be smoking before the people accept that they’re men? And the most annoying fact of all this is that they’re always on the lookout for more people to join them. If a non-smoker joins a group of smokers, they’ll keep giving him a wrap to smoke as well. And if he keeps refusing, they might resort to insults, using pressure to force them. And that’s how reluctant recruits are gotten.
And all these people, they believe they’ve got it under control. They think that if they decide to stop today, they will stop with no repercussions. They refuse to acknowledge the harm they’re doing to their lungs and kidneys. When you tell them of the risks associated with smoking, they tell you that only cigarettes are dangerous. Weed is natural and can be smoked for as long as possible. If you ask who told them, it will be another weed addict.
And this is what I’m saying, once you’ve accepted something as a part of your identity, you’d go above and beyond to justify keeping it in your life. Even at your own detriment. Personally, I’ve never liked the idea of losing control of my own body, that’s why I’ve never smoked in my life. And I’ve taken alcohol sparingly in the past. But after I got drunk one night, I swore never to repeat it. And I can tell you now that it’s been two years plus since I tasted alcohol. I’d rather drink Fanta and Choco than drink alcohol. Not just because of the health risk, but because of their addictive tendencies.
I don’t want to be going through a tough time, and my first thought will be to drink or smoke, God forbid! One of my neighbors the other day was complaining to me about how he was spending so much on school fees and beer. He was the only one drinking the beer. During the Christmas and New Year festivities, only he finished close to 20 crates of beer. I don’t even know how that happened. It was as if for every little activity he did, he punctuated it with a bottle. He’s complaining of how expensive beer is, but while he complained, another bottle of beer was in his hand.
He, too, believes he has it under control, and he can stop whenever he wants. Until we all acknowledge that we’re not as strong as we think we are, and we’re not in control as we’ve come to believe, choosing to seek help and get better, we’ll keep telling ourselves only the truths that make us feel better about our actions. But then, that’s all they’d do. They’d make us feel better, but we won’t actually get better, because we’re only getting worse.
Too bad.
