Who is Freddo?

Okay, let’s get the weird-sounding stuff out of the way first. Freddo is my imaginary alter ego that sits somewhere above my right shoulder.

This is perfectly normal, right?

Lets start at the beginning. Freddo came into my life about ten years ago. I was sitting on a London Underground tube, heading towards Islington, mulling over a couple of issues. To cut a long story short, I got to thinking how much easier it is to keep the thought process about concerns in a ‘healthy’ space, and to generate helpful solutions, when talking with a friend rather than chasing and diving after thoughts on my own.

So, I decided I needed a dialogue partner and, in order not to burden colleagues and friends (though goodness knows I do that enough), it needed to be an imaginary one. And immediately I had the mental image of this partner on my right hand shoulder, and the name ‘Freddo’ popped into my mind.

Now, my main issue with this is that, even though the name appeared spontaneously, Freddo is also a chocolate bar in the shape of a frog by Cadbury’s (if which I’m particularly fond, as it happens), and even I find the concept of abstracting my thoughts with a chocolate frog but, despite several attempts over the years, I’ve not identified a better name. So, Freddo it is.

Let’s clear something up before you think I’ve totally lost my marbles: I do not actually have conversations with Freddo (although, I do think it would be quite cool if I did!). But he occasionally pops into my mind when I’m diving down mental rabbit holes and reminds me to take a breath and structure my thinking. He’s a bit bossy, that Freddo.

So, what’s he doing here?

Well, one of the things that has stopped me starting this blog is the fear of overly intense introspection – otherwise known as navel gazing. And Freddo is the ideal dialogue partner to tackle that. Right?…