The concept of denial is a somewhat unfortunate one. Not because people don’t sometimes push things they don’t want to face out of their awareness. They surely do.
But because we innocently use the concept of denial to make our mental health look like a problem.
When you’re not suffering to the degree you think you should (which is the degree to which your friends, family, or popular psychology says you should following some particular circumstance), you wonder if you’re in denial.