Wellness Wednesday: Be the Noun

Yep, that title doesn’t make sense. But read this article titled Emotionally Intelligent People Add These 2 Letters to Certain Words to Become Remarkably Persuasive and you’ll see what I mean.

Who knew? Calling yourself a leader instead of saying you are leading a group makes a powerful difference. And saying you’re a helper, rather than saying you’re helping others is an important shift in thinking.

The science behind this says that we are driven by our identity and thus, the action verbs of what we are doing are less important than who we are and what traits they demonstrate.  Fascinating. So being a student is good, and more meaningful than studying a subject.  

Whether it’s what we say or how we describe things, words are so darned important. In this era of COVID and beyond, I do more phone advising than ever before. I’ve learned how impactful it is to have a student describe to me what they are seeing on a screen (DegreeWorks, anyone?). Or to explain to me what their study plan is. We use words as pictures. Really, there’s no telling what someone else sees.

Another thing related to language and nouns is how we think and talk about our own life plans and future. What is your goal? What/who do you want to be?  Remembering we are human beings, not human doings. What brings you joy and satisfaction?  What do you want to contribute to the world? What makes a difference for you in your day to day existence?

I cannot say I can always answer that question. There is a certain amount of “getting by” – doing the thing that’s in front of me, doing what feels right, doing what makes sense, doing what I can in stressful times. It is too easy to look at what is NOT done and to feel bad about my decisions.  But that does me little good in moving forward. I need to believe that doing the right thing at this moment WILL make a difference. That it WILL make me or someone else feel better, work stronger, be a more complete person.  

Good time to segue into the Advising Center! The Advising Center can help with conversations about your advising, major, or future directions. Just call 541-917-4780. Or write to onlineac@linnbenton.edu. We have drop in appts. every weekday to help with these questions, and urgent care appts for counseling when you really need that helping ear to figure out your path.

You are you. A noun. Not just an action. Go. Be. You.

Image by storyset on Freepik