I’m not talking about the discipline required to deny yourself something that you want. That’s good in so far as it subjects you to moderation throughout your life.
I’m talking about self-denial in the form of ignoring stuff around you, usually warning signs and things that lead to “safer” choices.
The ability to deny risk is the ability to function under stresses that would be debilitating for some others. If you or I didn’t have a healthy dose of self-denial, we’d be paralyzed by endless, gripping anxiety. We would not even have the peace of mind to get through any day of our life.
As Alan Deutschman puts it in his book Change or Die, “Basic psychological health demands a certain level of denial.”
And I think he hits the nail on the head.
If you have a deadly sickness, health condition, or find yourself in the throes of a crisis (e.g., you’re the pilot of a malfunctioning plane), self-denial is very much a bad thing. Nevertheless, in normal life, it can be very good.