My cousin told me once I should never wear pink, I was pregnant at the time and loved the dress but have never worn pink since.(30 years ago)

At a workshop once, one of the evaluations was that one woman talked too much and took over. So I always try to be quiet at seminars and meetings because I thought the writer must have been talking about me.

Someone told me at a poetry workshop that my poems were banal and lacked any clever ideas. Firstly I cried in the bathroom then I decided I would never write any poems and I did not for over 20 years after that.

My father was told by a teacher that he could not draw a straight line and he believed that all his life.

A friend was told she was not academic and should leave school early. She believed this for nearly 25 years then she went back to study after one person said to her she would make a great teacher. She taught for a while then ended up as a school counsellor.

People can say things to us both positive and negative and their words can affect us for a lifetime or a short time.

What things have people spoken to you that have affected you in either a positive or negative way?

Has something been said to you that you have found hard to forget and/or forgive?

Maybe I will forget my cousin's words one day and be bold enough to wear pink.

Watch this space.

Leah

A Moodscope member.