Are You Deep in Denial or Frozen in Fear?

Today I was thinking about how long some are willing to wait before seeing a doctor about something that concerns us. A friend of mine, actually, she is more like a sister, shared with me shortly after my diagnosis, that she had a black line running lengthwise on her finger. She showed it to me, and I suggested she see a dermatologist about it. At the time, I had not done much research on the different types of melanoma. I was trying to stay off the internet to avoid feeding my own fears.  Since then, I have read much more about melanoma and the various ways it presents itself. I started to send her texts every couple of weeks asking if she has seen a doc yet. No, is what I keep getting. I have threatened to hurt her (and she knows I am capable and willing to do this), but that didn’t make her go. I have threatened to call her family and her new husband and get them to make her go. Finally, yesterday I threatened to start sending her REALLY scary pictures if she didn’t go. So, I sent her a link to this article about checking your nails.

Amy is another beautiful young woman who has had her life changed by melanoma. I haven’t been able to read much of Amy's blog, but I did look over quite a bit. When you get a chance,  I suggest you do the same. Sometimes we have to be scared into doing what is good for us.

I haven’t heard from my friend since yesterday, but I do know that I  will be calling her AND her family members this week to make sure they all help me to encourage her to go see a dermatologist ASAP. 

So I ask, is it fear or denial that makes us not take excellent care of ourselves?

I know personally, I used being busy as an excuse, but the truth is I kept procrastinating because I just honestly never thought it would happen to me. Not skin cancer. I wore sunscreen ALL the time …as an adult.   I knew nothing, but thought I knew everything. Then there are people like my mom,, who are afraid to find out something is wrong with them. Does that help anything? I ask her. I mean, if something is wrong, it’s not going to fix itself. You have to do something about it, and we all know, the sooner you fix a problem, the better the outcome. 

 From Wikipedia:

 procrastination refers to the act of replacing high-priority actions with tasks of lower priority

What are your high priorities? Is it your health? Your children? Your spouse? Your job? What good would any of those be to you if you weren't around? Don't put off taking care of the most important asset you and your family have- you.