5 ways to escape reality

Escaping reality is something we often do without realizing it. There are many escape routes and some are less noticeable than others. We don’t always run away from things physically, but sometimes we develop behaviors that fulfill that function, even if it doesn’t seem like it at first glance.

The negative thing about escaping reality is that it ultimately only leads to self-deception. . We can get the idea that a problem or a void is not there, but if it really is, sooner or later it will come to light; Furthermore, not assuming these problems only leads to them growing, often uncontrolled.

In addition, This desire to escape from reality often leads us to develop harmful behaviors both for ourselves and for others..

Without us realizing, The desire not to face reality causes us to hide behind maladaptive behaviors that do not solve what we want to avoid and, instead, generate new problems for us. The following are some of those behaviors.

1. Count on what you don’t have yet

This is a way to escape from reality that takes us to an illusory world. It’s the world of “if this happened, that would be solved.”. So, the problem, for example, is not solving the work situation and increasing income, but rather buying the lottery to solve things once and for all.

Nor is the problem exploring what lies behind sadness and loneliness, but rather waiting for that person we dream of to arrive, for the person we love to change, or for “something to happen” to take us out of that state. It is the world of waiting for something that will hardly happen, so as not to take responsibility for what actually happens to us.

2. Depending on others, a way to escape reality

Another way to escape one’s own reality is by subjecting it to the reality of others. There are two ways to do it. One, the most common, is blaming others for what happens to us. The problem is with the couple, who does or does not do; or the boss, who demands or does not demand; or the family, which is this way or that, and so on.

It is as if the person believes that he is a simple toy in the hands of others. As if there was no room for minimal autonomy.

The other path of dependency It is to cling to someone specifically and delegate responsibility for our destiny to that person. This way we don’t have to confront ourselves with our mistakes or problems.

3. Invent justifications

Also It is very common to choose the path of escaping reality by looking for fictitious justifications for what happens to us. The favorites are destiny or bad luck. This, of course, would be out of our control and so we can’t do anything about it.

There are also cases in which We cling to our own weaknesses to justify disinterest or lack of determination to face our mistakes and gaps.. “I’m temperamental” some say to avoid their lack of commitment to working through their anger; or the “I don “t know about that” which is used to evade progress. There are hundreds of similar formulas.

4. Overstate the facts

Increasing the severity of some problems sometimes serves the purpose of avoiding others. There are those who, for example, marry radical pessimism and use it as an excuse not to grow. Apparently, the world is so bad that it is not worth trying to improve it by our own efforts.

Sometimes, a partner, a child, a mother or a job also become a kind of nest of evils. All attention is focused on one of those realities and any trifle in that area becomes a catastrophe.. This is also a way to escape from reality, creating a smoke screen.

5. Postpone what is important

Procrastinating begins as a way of managing time, which becomes a habit for those who want to escape reality. They procrastinate just when things start to get difficultor when they demand more than usual.

Putting things off indefinitely is a way to get things out of your mind without experiencing guilt about it.. We know deep down that the right thing to do is to address them, but we choose to avoid the situation and that is how we create a long chain of pending issues that we then do not know how to begin to resolve.

We try to escape from reality when we are not clear about how to face it or we feel that the tools we have are not enough to do so.. We are almost always wrong about this.

Half of the problems are already solved when we decide to face them and others, if we reflect on them, we can solve them or at least face them so that they affect us as little as possible. Of course, we will always obtain great lessons and fruits if we do it.

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