I Made It! By Faking It.

Let’s discuss a concept we’re all familiar with.  Let’s talk about “Faking it until You Make It.”  This is the method by which we pretend we are happy, and then we suddenly are.  Or we pretend we know what we are doing, until we do.  Or we’re not sure if we like this particular person, but we keep at it until we are friends.  Or maybe not friends, but at least until you have a certain level of respect for them.  I’d love to be able to ask Jackie flat out what her feelings were on this matter.  On the one hand, I think she would champion this.  If you aren’t feeling the part, just pretend you are.  No one has to know, you’ve put your best foot forward, and everything thinks you are amazing.  The other part of me thinks she would NEVER do this.  Everything I’ve read about Jackie has been perfectly clear that Jackie had no problem saying no to invitations that didn’t interest her, gently but firmly reminding people that may have wronged her, and just generally being fabulous at most things she undertook. 

Jackie was a student.  A lifelong student.  She read voraciously, and was a true believer of “Be the labor, great or small, do it well or not at all”.  So the question really becomes…did Jackie only participate in activities she knew she would excel at, or did she fake it until she made it?

I can’t decide how I feel about it.  I know mind over matter works, to a certain extent.  For instance, I wanted to cry before I even hit the mat yesterday at the gym.  But I took a few deep breaths and just started telling myself it wouldn’t be that bad, I could do it, one thing at a time.  And it helped.  I also know that when I am doing things like cleaning my house, if I turn on the stereo and set the timer, giving myself little goals, it makes it so much less…mind numbing.  But can this really work with other things, like food?  And people?  Let’s start with food.  I hate vegetables.  There, I said it.  Big shocker.  BUT- I know they are good for me, and healthy, and in theory they fill you up.  So, if I force myself to eat them, will I eventually like them?  I can’t imagine how that works.  If something is physically perceived as unappealing to a person, how does forcing it make the effect any less repulsive?  Same with people.  If there is something about a person that just makes you wince a little bit….can you grow to like them? 

I don’t know.  Maybe there is a way to experiment and try to prove/disprove this theory.  Maybe I should fix a vegetable every day this week, and only eat that.  If I am hungry enough, it’ll probably taste like the most amazing thing ever, right?