Thursday, January 3, 2008

Act As If

My boss told me a while back that her shrink taught her to "act as if". For example, if you don't like something you should act as if you do and eventually you will convince yourself you do or perhaps you will genuinely start liking it. That's what she told me to do with the teacher who refuses to follow my instructions... act as if I like the woman. Well, yesterday my boss acted as if all day. She walked in with a big smile plastered on her face and she smiled all damn day and we had lovely conversations and all was really pleasant. I guess it'll be like this until her true emotions erupt again like they did in the staff meeting several weeks ago and she is loaded onto an ambulance with chest pains. I don't think acting as if is healthy or good advice. I think it's better to tell it like it is. Obviously I'll never be in politics or win some kind of popularity contest. Maybe I'll act as if I'm pregnant and see what happens.

2 comments:

HereWeGoAJen said...

I think it depends on the situation, but I "act as if" sometimes. Mostly, I act as if I like my mother-in-law.

Michele said...

Have you ever read The Secret? It's kind of along the same lines ... not regarding things you don't want or don't like but in relation to things you do want in your life. For example, say an affirmation every day along the lines of "Both me and my body are totally ready to become pregnant and it will happen for me very soon." Something like that. Now, I tried it for a while to help us sell our condo ... 7 months later it still isn't sol so it doesn't work for everything but it might be worth a try. You could think along the lines of "I know my boss and I have differences but I'm going to focus on the things that I do like about her. That way it's not a complete lie, but you are looking for the good. Does that make sense?