Well, it's been around for a few years, but it seems that lately I'm running into it more and more and it makes me want to scream.  It's the

Give yourself permission to....

Fill in whatever blank you want after that.

Can I tell you how much I hate that phrase. I want to take the person, smack them, and say "I'm not 3 years old!  I don't have to give myself permission to do things!"

It's a cop-out, but oh so very easy for self-help types. They only have to say something like:  all you need to do is "give yourself permission" and you'll be able to do "X" (whatever "X" might be).  How easy is that! 

If you can listen to that trite stupid phrase and then suddenly "X" is accomplished, they can say "see it works".  If "X" doesn't work for you, they say "it's because you aren't letting yourself do this".

Heads I win, tails you lose. I wonder how long we'll have to live with this particular bit of "wisdom" before someone finds a different catch phrase to snare the masses and sell their schtick.  Geeze.

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 10:10 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
Post contains 195 words, total size 1 kb.

1 The subtext here is that we could all be Having A Great Time if we weren't such pissy little authoritarians, clamping down on anything that looks like fun.

This is, of course, horse doodles, dependent as it is on a universal definition of fun, which doesn't actually exist in our species.  (Your dog wants steak, but he's easier to please.)   How we got to a point where we believe anyone who hangs out his guru shingle is beyond me.

The wisdom of Dennis Miller: "I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman where the Self Help section was. She said if she told me it would defeat the purpose."

Posted by: CGHill at August 12, 2011 11:21 PM (naMhs)

2 I hate catchphrases. My biggest pet peeve lately is people who say: "Really, _____ (fill in the blank)? Really?" So fucking annoying.

Posted by: Erica at August 13, 2011 12:47 AM (PY2l4)

3 Thank you!  I loathe that particular phrase.

Posted by: pam at August 13, 2011 08:11 AM (VZULe)

4 "Horse doodles" is a phrase I could definitely get into though.

Posted by: Erica at August 13, 2011 09:23 AM (PY2l4)

5 First thing I thought of reading the phrase was new age-y crap and how much I hate it. But then I immediately I felt a bad about hating on it all, so I thought, "I know! I should just give myself permission to hate on new-age-y crap." So I did, and, yeah, I feel waaaay better now.

Posted by: sheri at August 14, 2011 06:58 AM (nJv/i)

6 You all crack me up.  Of course I'm guilty of using catch phrases myself - too much - and usually try to let them slide but this one seems to me rearing its ugly self all over lately so I hate it.

Sheri - I feel so much better too and I can now giggle about giving my self permission to hate it... excellent.

Posted by: Teresa at August 14, 2011 10:16 PM (xE2iU)

7 T, I'm LOLing at the spam comment just above. "My man!" I think I'm going to use that as a tag line on my site: You must have something to say, you say style, my man!

WTF LOL WTF LOL WTF LOL <--- picture this being like "police line do not cross" tape across the bottom here

Posted by: sheri at August 15, 2011 06:22 AM (nJv/i)

8 Run with it Sheri!  I love it... since that comment must go the way of its predecessors, I'm copying it down here because it's really classic:

Sometimes I just feel that people write, and do not really have much to say. This isnot the case. You must have something to say, you say style, my man! You certainly have an interesting way to attract people, and with your video and your words. You have got quite a blog twelve punch! 

Posted by: Teresa at August 15, 2011 08:29 AM (xE2iU)

9 Double-rainbow awesome advice!

:p

("horse doodles" ftmfw)

Posted by: Joan of Argghh! at August 15, 2011 12:44 PM (pwg4g)

10 If I gave myself permission at work the body count would be too high.

Posted by: Cappy at August 17, 2011 06:14 AM (KqcM+)

11 Cappy - we'll be there with shovels to help out...

Posted by: Teresa at August 17, 2011 10:54 AM (xE2iU)

12 I have to say, I've never heard that phrase.  Seriously.  I was trying to think if I heard anything remotely close to that at work and the closest I could come to is when I call the IT department and say, 'I can't get in.  Can you get me permission?'  That's it.

Posted by: Bou at August 17, 2011 10:40 PM (NZHwq)

13 Bou - I listen to lots of podcasts the "creative" types seem to use this phrase all the time.  I have actually unsubscribed to podcasts when they fall back on this.  Then I have been reading more since I got my Kindle and I've picked up a couple of books on the rec of people I really like - only to find... they fall back on  this crap too.  It seems to keep popping up more an more. 

Posted by: Teresa at August 18, 2011 01:00 PM (xE2iU)

14 It must be because I hang out with analytical types then, that I've not heard this phrase.  I was trying to figure out how YOU had heard it considering your business, but... listening to podcasts is the answer. 

Posted by: Bou at August 18, 2011 09:30 PM (NZHwq)

15 Yeah, it's the photo podcasts (not all of them of course).  And then I know a couple of writers who are wonderful people and I love reading their stuff. I've gotten a few books they've been reading and have mentioned... and there ya go.  LOL.

Posted by: Teresa at August 18, 2011 10:32 PM (xE2iU)

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