This is explainable from a boy who does this...
Common cold - I want to be allowed to rest and be taken care for(for example "I'm sick so can you cook me some soup and a sandwich for lunch?").
Life threatening illness - I don't want to make the person worry about me. I don't want them to force me to a hospital which I cant afford.
You're not going to worry or take me to the er for a cough but you would probably care for me and pamper me... That's the difference
I don't want them to force me to a hospital which I cant afford.
Tell me you're american w/out telling me you're american.
No really don't you dare take me to the hospital unless I'm dying and not even then unless I don't have work in the morning.
If I'm sick and just need a little bit rest and pampering, I want to enjoy it.
If I'm dying and there's nothing that can be done, I'd rather quietly lay down in my grave than be a burden to my loved ones.
I don't know why I'm like this either.
When I'm feeling under the weather is the only time I feel like I can just allow myself to be looked after and nurtured.
In my wider life, men are generally expected to be independent and never ask for help or be helped, because then they're somehow less of a man. My partner is guilty of this too, despite being a pretty progressive woman in general.
And yeah, I know it's yet another toxic aspect of our gender culture that should be rejected, but it's been ingrained in me for 39 years now... It's hard to set aside, especially when other people's perceptions of you do affect how you're treated.
I sometimes wonder how much of that culture is influenced by biology. In many other animals, it's a survival mechanism to feign you're doing fine even if you're injured or sick, because otherwise predators will target you and it's harder to find a mate.
I wonder if traces of that still linger and, due to our much more complex social structures and high intelligence, it's displayed culturally the way it is.
A life-threatening injury typically triggers adrenaline, and a lot of it.
Huh, you guys want to be pampered. I just feel like shit.
Ok but colds are worse than life threatening injuries though.
