I attended a  continuing education workshop “How I feel : Growing or Maintaining Self Respect when Communicating” and as I stood in line I could hear staff at the door.

”You’re an ‘f’, ’t’, ’s’, ’a’”.

Participants were giddy and I looked around the room as individuals were being directed toward the letter they had been given. I watched some individuals swap letters as they wanted to sit with the ones they came with. I looked down at my own card with a big “s” on it, and my first thought was “super”. I thought the topic was “be helpful”, but this ice breaker seemed a bit extreme. I walked away from the workshop with a head full of new tools, and a few old ones that had been sharpened. I learned the letters spelled f.a.s.t. and meant:

be Fair to yourself

Abstain from apologizing for being alive, apologizing for having an opinion, or for disagreeing or apologizing for making a request for yourself. Abstain from overly dramatizing your .

Stick to your own values. Be clear in expressing your sense of morality.

Truthfully respect your right to represent you authentic self in life by refraining from lying, acting helpless, exaggerating, and excuses