A Pose For Power

The Amy Cuddy *05 article reminded me of my childhood, changing schools 15 times and always being a misfit. I saw the movie The King and I, in which Anna and her son are standing on the deck of a ship arriving in Thailand and the boy is afraid. She sings with him, “I whistle a happy tune, and no one ever knows I’m afraid.”

I started doing this quietly to myself under stressful situations, and it worked. I am now 76 years old and a tennis pro. People ask me how I can be so confident, and I reply, “I whistle a happy tune, and no one knows I’m afraid.” As Cuddy said, I am no longer afraid — I have changed by “faking it.”