It is easy to overlook things. Whether in our personal or professional life, it can be done either intentionally or as a genuine mistake; it is often the mistakes that get picked up on first. If you are overlooking something on purpose, the intent is rarely questioned and seen as the right thing.
This can be the case in relation to our health, too. How many times have you felt absolutely dreadful (bar hangover) and had somebody ask you how you are just to reply with “I’m fine”? When all you want to do is go back to your bed and curl up under a duvet. You are overlooking your true feelings in order to appease whoever you are speaking to. Maybe you don’t want to dampen their day, or don’t think they’ll want to listen. If in a work environment, you may think that they don’t believe you or will be keeping a close watch on you to monitor your progress – with the rise in people throwing ‘sickies’, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this may be the case. It’s not a good position to be in (and definitely doesn’t help any anxiety issues), but it’s a problem that our generation has developed.
When Do You Stop?
When do you stop overlooking problems concerning your health? For many, it ends when the problem gets so bad that you can’t carry on your day-to-day life as normally or fluidly as you would like. But how bad is bad? We all have different levels of expectation and tolerance, so whereas one person may not like that they are waking up and having to wipe their nose first thing, others can tolerate this until it starts to get a lot worse. It is the first person, the one who can’t stand the first sign of sickness, that will do better in this situation. Their inability to overlook an initial symptom could see them getting treated a lot sooner than the person who waits for other symptoms to develop before doing anything about it.
Take Back Control
You may be intentionally overlooking when you know that you have signs and symptoms of illness. This is usually due to fear (either of the unknown or what you have experienced before, it is no set directive) of the situation itself. To overcome this fear, you will have to tackle the situation head-on. It is scary, but you never know the severity of what is happening until you have had it medically explained in terms you can understand. An extreme example would be overlooking your headaches as something less serious after completing renovation work on a building when it could be an asbestos-related illness (check out http://www.mesotheliomahelp.org for more information on this subject).
Don’t let your health be the mistake. It isn’t something that can easily be rectified later, like a job in an office which has been overlooked. The longer you intentionally ignore something, the less time you have to make it right again.
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