On my way to write this this morning I crept through the house and down the stairs in moves the SAS would be proud of. On toes and then the balls of my feet, I use the edge of the stair as it has most support and is less likely to creak. I take my time, feeling it out to know if a creak is imminent. I know how to open drawers, so the cutlery doesn't give me a crescendo of percussion fitting in the last scene of a passionate opera. I know how to close drawers so hushed you'd never know they'd been opened. I can ease door stops out from underneath doors in such a way that the wood on wood doesn't squeal. I can silently remove and replace the kettle lid with the canny assistance of a tea towel, muffling the shrill shout of the metal so nobody would know the SAS were having early coffee.

I'm good at being quiet. (Admittedly there is a down side to this too but that needs no further explanation here today.) I'm really very good at being quiet. In the game of giving each other a fright with one up-manship I can sneak into my son's room just after we've said goodnight, so I can say goodnight again without him hearing me come into the room, sometimes even getting close to his bed so my voice just appears in the dark. (Done true SAS style by creeping in on belly.) He loves it. After he's calmed down. He gets me back. Often with a creepy voice he does that chills me or with black things that look like spiders.

So, there we are. I am making a confession of a different kind. I am good at something and I am being proud of it and I am sharing it. When did you last praise yourself? Have you ever? Do you ever utter the words "I'm really very good at..."? Its not showing off. It's changing the mindset of self-loathing, self-doubt, self-esteem and it's changing the record. Enough of the other one. Let's play something new.

I'm really very good at... [insert own words here]

Love from

The room above the garage

A Moodscope member