A senior vocalist, one who had for many years regaled audiences with his mellifluous voice, owing to age and voice fatigue lost the timber and tonality in his voice.
He was invited to preside over a function that some of us were attending and though as chief guest he was only expected to say a few words he insisted on singing one of his popular songs.
Sadly the rendition sounded hoarse and left the audience disappointed. When the compère gently asked the eminent musician to conclude, the gentleman actually told the audience that this was probably a better rendition of the song that he was giving in recent months.
Sitting in the audience I was struck by the denial of voice and tone loss that the singer was completely unaware of.
I recognised that I have so often resorted to such denial, simply because I do not want to accept an altered situation; one that is perhaps not as joyful or happy as I would like it to be.
I realise that when I so deny I become defensive and sometimes even become aggressive when confronted with the truth and most certainly do not listen. Stress builds in me and I lose composure.
Yet when I have not yielded to denying and have accepted or at least allowed for what is being said by listening, I have felt less anxious and felt supported and helped by those attempting to have me face the truth.
Denial thus denudes my being honest and puts pressure on me to continue to sustain my misguided belief about myself.
The writer is an organisational and behavioural consultant. He can be contacted at ttsrinath@gmail.com