As a child I was told repeatedly that I was clumsy and uncordinated. In fact I still have 5 years of high school reports that repeatedly state this very fact, under the subject of PE.
My mum [kindly] would tell me not to worry too much, that she also had 2 left feet (ignoring the fact that she could infact skip, juggle and do some impressive tricks with a yoyo).
And so I grew into a young woman who believed she was ungainly, clumsy and uncordinated. I grew into a young woman who did her best to avoid any activity that required one to be even remotely coordinated.
Then one day my friends convinced me to go to a step aerobics class, it was new and all the rage. I was worried, I was VERY worried and in my view I bundled my way through, turning the wrong way, stepping in the wrong direction and constantly finding myself on the wrong side of the step. Just what you would expect from someone uncoordinated like me! It was fun though and so I went back. After a few weeks I was getting the hang of it and then my friends said they didn’t want to go anymore! They said “it was all right for someone like me with good coordination but they just couldn’t get it right!” I was somewhat taken aback and so began a shift in my self perception.
These days I understand that even though some physical activities may not be intuitive for me I can certainly do them with a little practice. That on the whole I am well coordinated. This year I have really tested this theory by learning to hula hoop an activity requires a high level of coordination to do well.
We are told many things about ourselves as children. People repeat ‘facts’ about us over and over and we are conditioned to accept these repetitions as the truth and we live up to these statements, we become ‘labelled’. Sadly many of our labels limit us.
When coaching with Infin8life I find it is important to help clients overcome their labels in order for them to move on and become happier in their lives. There are many approaches that help but one very simple and very effective technique is positive affirmations. This technique involves the client repeating positive statements about themselves until they come to accept those messages as true. This is supported with visualisation work which has the dual benefit of preparing clients for whatever lies ahead of them, reducing stress and increasing motivation.
BTW I have been labeled “bossy” since a young age too. I like this label and am happy to stick with it 
Very interesting. I think we should be careful about ANY labels we put on children, whether we consider them to be good or bad. Difficult though! It’s especially easy to compare them to siblings or ourselves. I, for example, am quite outgoing and I easily get irritated by people who are very shy (sorry, how intolerant of me!) but in fact shyness can be a quality, let’s call it being “reserved”. Perhaps this type of people are a better judge of character, more observant, more sensitive than I, me with my big mouth and stupid jokes!
So you are a big mouthed, insensitive, poor judge of character eh? I never noticed these qualities Rebecca! But then you obviously haven’t noticed how reserved I can be
It is difficult not to label and as a teacher I am sure this is something you are extremely cautious about. Its good to understand the impact of labels and then when we catch ourselves at it, to make a note not to keep repeating this message to the kids, or our grown up friends / relatives.