“Oh no, I’ve said too much; I haven’t said enough”

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In my previous post, I wrote:

 

Women have a tremendous capacity to endure.

 

Not merely endure, actually, but struggle mightily under terrible conditions.

 

(Admittedly, this seems untrue to our modernity-clouded vision, but I assure you it is fact.)

 

If any human being can make a Heaven of Hell, it’d be a woman.

 

 

Of course, I fully expected someone to take me to task on it.

 

 

 

Happily, loyal and long time reader Sean did:

 

I had to take a second after reading this.

 

It’s not that they could make Hell Heaven but would delude themselves into it. “See?! Unlimited hot water for the tub, it’s always warm, never a draft, I can wear yoga pants all the time and I never need to cook. How is it NOT Heaven?”

 

I think a chunk of their resilience is putting the Hamster in overdrive and letting it spin until it becomes an alternator.

That final line [emboldened by me for emphasis] is exactly right.

 

Spot on, in fact.

 

I’ll explain why that is.

 

Before I do, however, I’ll share the full quote to which I was alluding in my original statement, as I believe it will provide a more solid basis for understanding [emphasis in bold].

 

“The mind is its own place, and in it self
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”
~John Milton, Paradise Lost

 

Now, to explain as promised.

 

 

 

One of the few things I will be eternally grateful to Roissy/Heartiste for teaching me is (paraphrased):

 

Irrational self-confidence trumps rational defeatism every time.

 

This is because men (being the natural aggressors) need to make confidence a potent fuel for their engine.

 

Successful execution of action often depends on it.

 

And men are judged by their actions (and the results of such).

 

 

 

Understand, however, that women don’t need that particular self-delusion.

 

It is, in fact, a delusion.

 

A useful one, admittedly, but a self-deception, regardless.

 

 

 

Women, on the other hand, need to be resilient.

 

What would aid that?

 

Deluding oneself about the quality of one’s surroundings certainly would.

 

Focusing on sunshine, smiles and cute animals – or, in broader strokes, the bright sides of current conditions – charge their batteries (to maintain Sean’s analogy).

 

Such a mental realignment would definitely aid in battling depression, despondency and dejection.

 

 

 

Now, I suspect the next counterpoint aimed at me (politely) may be:

 

“But women take it too far!” 

 

I agree.

 

In fact, it was a significant point of that post.

 

Yet, women can’t be fully blamed for that.

 

Plenty of men are arrogant braggarts because folks in their life fed the delusions to a detrimental point.

 

The only difference here is that female delusions are simply catered to (on the whole) far more than men’s.

 

If for no other reason than men shrug and ignore them rather than suffer for disabusing them of their feminine notions.

 

Just as women often reward male braggarts by feeding their egos and filling their beds, men reward women – in a sense – for their intentional denialism.

 

“It’s queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there has never been anything like it, and never can be. It’s too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset. Some confounded fact we men have been living contentedly with ever since the day of creation would start up and knock the whole thing over.”

~ Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

 

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