There Is No Closet: Unpacking the Cycle of Denial

Starting at a young age, J.P. Butler started his fourteen-year journey of living under the illusion that he was happy. J.P. made choices like any other human, but this choice would completely change the way he lived, loved, and connected with others. He chose denial. Denial is a defense mechanism that is used for survival, and once denial sets in, it can be extremely difficult to let it go. If you remove that defense mechanism too quickly or recklessly, you remove one's ability to feel safe. Whether that's physically safe, emotionally safe, or mentally safe, denial protects us until we are ready to face "the truth." In the memoir/self-help hybrid book "There Is No Closet", author J.P. Butler walks us through his own personal experience of using denial for over fourteen years. After he let go of this denial and looked back on his journey, he noticed that his experience of forming and working through denial followed a similar pattern when compared to others who also depended on denial. Denial may be strong, but it is not impossible to work through. "There Is No Closet" contains J.P.'s analysis of how we form denial, and ultimately how we call on our own courage to throw away our need for denial and find genuine happiness again.