I got a lot of feedback from last week’s article. People really seemed to identify with what I had gone through. Included in some of the messages I received were several requests to expand upon what went on during the meeting with my "coach". I think people are wanting me to pass on the advice she gave me in hopes that they could apply it to themselves. Unfortunately, I don’t think this is possible. You see, the meeting was very specific to my own self development and a lot of what we covered would just not make sense to anyone else. However, there is one thing that was said that I feel I could expand on.

During the meeting, my coach turned to me and asked me to think of the one thing I found myself repeating to other people on a regular basis. It was the one question she asked me that day that I could actually supply the answer to without tripping over my tongue first.

"You CAN do this! It will be OK. Just keep going and don’t give up."

I am sure that I repeat this sentience in some form at least ten times a day if not more. In fact, I have said this so many times to so many people that a friend of mine developed a word for it. The word goes something like this:

Firginized – firg.in.ized; The act of having Firggy get on your case and push you to a limit you never thought you would go. Example: "I never had the courage to enter my work in contests before but then, I got Firginized."

I am sure that the list of people who have felt they have been "Firginized" would be quite long if I ever stopped to take a head count. So, when I told my coach this, she looked at me and said "Don’t you realize that you are really just trying to say that to yourself?" To which, I then blinked, and kind of froze. After seeing the stunned look on my face, she went on to explain that this is a habit that most people do without realizing it. Inside our heads we develop a sort of theme song that is soft, low, and playing in the way back corners of our subconscious. The song then comes out as we talk to other people and it becomes repetitive without our realization. The greater the repetition, the more our subconscious is trying to scream – "Don’t you realize you are really just trying to say that to yourself?" After she let me in on this little secret, I soon began to thaw out of my frozen state and warm up to what she was saying. She was dead on. In all my years of repeating this cheerleader type sentience, I was not only trying to encourage others to succeed, but also myself. And somehow along the way I started to believe what I was saying. I CAN do this. It WILL be OK. I just need to keep going and not give up.

Now you may be asking – How does this apply to me? Well, think about it. Is there something that you repeat to others on a regular basis? How often do you say it? Don’t you realize that you are really just trying to say that to yourself?

Go you. Go me.