Up: [[Words, Beautiful and Otherwise]] Created: 2024-04-05 I’ve noticed myself using “just” a lot lately: To my analyst, “I *just* have two dreams to talk about this week.” To my friends, “I *just* need a few more days to get over this walking pneumonia and sinus infection.” To myself, “I’m *just* resting this week.” “Just” in these contexts is a word that diminishes. Two dreams aren’t good enough. Resting while I’m ill isn’t good enough. I shouldn’t even be ill because that makes me look weak and leaves me unavailable to my friends. According to Jungian analyst, Marion Woodman, “just” is a word that women use far more often than men. I don’t know if that’s true or if, perhaps, there’s a gender difference in how many of us use the word. Jeremy Sherman, in this article in [Psychology Today](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ambigamy/201811/just-a-four-letter-word-to-use-cautiously) sees “just” as the ultimate four letter power word. He claims that it’s used to get people to accept your opinion as fact and shut down debate and alternative perspectives. He calls it a word that claims signal while making everything else noise. Some examples: I’m *just* trying to be nice. They’re *just* greedy. Kindness *just* makes people walk all over you. Sherman suggests looking for exceptions to each statement and, if you can find them, “just” doesn’t apply. Fair enough if I hear other people using the word but, for me, I’m realizing that I diminish and minimize through “just” so I’m banning it from my vocabulary. No “just” about it!