Page 181 - EAMMV9covers

NICHOLAS BOOTHMAN
When asked to come up with seven words to
describe herself she snapped, “I’m an aggressive, angry
bitch for starters: or so I’m told.” She eventually added:
methodical, loyal, challenging and impatient.
An hour later we’d accurately reframed the words
she gave me to describe herself. When we dug deep
down ‘aggressive’ became ‘stimulating,‘ ’angry’ became
‘quick-witted,‘ ’bitch’ turned into ‘having high
standards’ and ‘impatient’ changed to ‘ambitious.’ The
rest stayed the same.
In a flash Susan realized how over the years the
people around her had poisoned her self-talk, turned
her strengths into weaknesses and had her believing all
these negative things about herself. No wonder a
stimulating, quick-witted woman with high standards,
living in the circumstances she did, was told over and
over she was an aggressive, angry bitch. Sooner or
later we start to believe what people say. But Susan’s
lights went on that day as we peeled back the layers
and discovered what she’d always been great at since
she was a child. What made her deep-down angry
about society in general and what gave her great joy.
“This is it,” Susan said as her truths revealed
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