In denial, you really are unable to get out of that alternative reality and come back. And in suppression, you are. But then again, what else would you do? So he tells the story of this young man who essentially is able to draw his mind away from the fact that he is on the cusp of suffocation and death. "I think speeding through death, grief, drama, adversity in the fast lane with easy pat like i've learned to do isn't always the best thing"