Don't answer

I had picked up one of those inexpensive magazines they offer at the check out counter at the grocery store. It wasn’t an entertainment magazine but one of the family type magazines that have a wide variety of articles from health to cooking to all kinds of crafts and things.
It sat on my coffee table for over a week. I finally started to glance through it and there was an article written by a body image specialist in the business for 25 years (I didn’t even realize that was something someone could do).
She was talking about how popular it is to work on our physical fitness but many of us needed to also work on our mental fitness. By this she went on to explain that it is simply a way of coaching and supporting yourself to make healthier decisions.
Okay, that is interesting. I mentally coach myself all the time. You can sometimes actually hear the gears turning in my head when I get really absorbed. So maybe I could learn something from this.
The first thing it said was to respect yourself. It said to treat yourself as well as you would a friend. Maybe I could do a little more of that. I have a tendency to beat a little more heavily on myself at times than necessary. I could work on that.
Then it said to pick a positive phrase and say it to yourself when you catch yourself in the mirror. I guess this is part of the self image thing. Examples were: I look great, Wow, or Hello, gorgeous.
This it were it lost me. No, please! You have to be kidding.
Aren’t we talking about mental fitness? Isn’t that a little crazy? I am supposed to talk to myself in the mirror? Those phrases make me uncomfortable when someone else says them – why would I say them to myself? It’s hard enough to stay mentally on track without doing outward things that will make people even more wary of my mental health. Especially things that would make me seem narcissistic. How could that help? What if I caught myself in the mirror in a public place and said Hello Gorgeous and someone else heard it? That would seem a little insane. Well, wouldn’t it?
So I am going to search my mental databases and see how much respect I can generate without talking to myself. My first step in mental fitness will be to avoid the things that will make me seem even crazier than I might already be. Respect can be good, talking…not so much.
Or maybe it’s only considered crazy if you answer yourself?
TT