WHAT IS REAL

My friend Tamryn and I have been discussing the ramifications of Munchausen's disease and carrying it a step beyond a mother creating symptoms that convince her child and others that he is sick. I expand it to include the Oh My God illnesses everyone has and does not realize is their "out" for avoiding an uncomfortable situation. I have certainly done this altogether too many times and I will never forget when I was in Redwood City and had re-developed my anorexic symptoms (fixating on the food I ate, weighing myself continually, skipping meals and pretending I wasn't hungry) I told this to the receptionist in my dentist's office and she said, "Well you must be getting your cookies from it somewhere."
It pulled me up short and I thought, "No more. If I cannot face a situation, I will admit to it ..no head ache, no stomach ache, no focusing on food (or drink or my dogs or the weather) to divert me from the problem at hand."
This vow has freed me in many ways because I know now that if I do NOT say the no's I need to say, my body will say them for me. It takes a great deal of playing the part to convince your body that it never wins the war but once you do, you feel so much more honest about the life you have chosen to live.