I saw a similar situation a few weeks ago. My family was going on a trip to Miami for a few days, and since it was the last week of the summer, I was given the option to stay if I wanted to. I opted to stay, as it was the last week of summer, and the trip was only for a few days. I made my decision about a month before the trip, and my father, who usually loves the idea of the whole family being together, was okay with it. However, a week before the trip my father told me that he’d changed his mind, and he wanted me to go. I didn’t complain, as after all I was going to Miami, but while talking about it with my mom we realized how similar this situation was to me leaving my pacifier. In the end, my father realized it was time to stop using a pacifier, and let me stay.
We all have been in a situation where you’re asked about a situation you feel anxious about, but since it's a long time before you have to face it, you claim not to be worried about it, that you can handle it. The event being so distant in time, even though this distance is relative to the situation, gives us confidence beforehand, but when it’s time to face it, people crumble down. Its as if the overconfidence backfired in the end, and it makes it even worse when having to face the problem, whereas if you’d admitted to feel anxious about it from the beginning, you would’ve had more time to process it, and get used to the fact that you were going to have to face that fear of yours, and when it was time to actually face it, you would’ve done so in a much better way. Should I have considered how rough it would be to leave my pacifier right before throwing it to the stream, and have started preparing myself for the effort that it would take to do so, then maybe I wouldn’t have had such a terrible night. Just as if my father had thought how even though he felt somewhat edgy about me staying in Lima, he’d have to make an effort, and that meant getting used to the fact that I’d stay, then he would’ve already dealt with the idea when they were about to leave, rather than telling me that he wanted me to come.
We all have a pacifier that we think we can easily leave when it’s still day, but once night comes, and it's time to really face being without it, we realize that it’ll be much harder than we thought. That’s why it’s important not to deny a fear or discomfort of ours, because that will prevent us from being able to prepare for facing it. We have to be able to accept that we’re scared of something, and even though we’re scared of it, prepare ourselves to do it. It’s better to be aware of a problem beforehand, rather than having it come up without any previous notice, because no matter how big the problem we have to face, it’ll be smaller after spending some time to process it.