835 The 4 Phrases HFCs Say Without Realizing It
The Terri Cole Show
Terri Cole
4.9 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 2 June 2026
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
"It's fine." "I got it." "Don't worry about me." "I'll figure it out."
If you say one of these without thinking, several times a day, this episode is for you. These are the phrases that keep us stuck in high-functioning codependent behavior, and they sound generous. But there is an invisibility to what we are doing, and a cost.
These automatic behaviors are a nervous system response, habituated over years. As high-functioning codependents (HFCs), we react before we think, the moment a problem comes up. Learning to pause is the intervention. That moment before you say I got it is where the work happens, because on autopilot it is hard to change what comes out of your mouth.
Read the show notes for today's episode at terricole.com/835
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Well, hello, my friends and welcome back to the Terry Cole show. |
| 0:03.7 | I am so incredibly happy that you were joining me today. |
| 0:07.5 | So I'm going to start this episode by saying a few phrases. |
| 0:12.1 | I want you to close your eyes and I want you to dial into how your body responds to these phrases. |
| 0:19.3 | Starting with, are you ready? All right, let's go um it's fine phrase number one i got it |
| 0:26.9 | phrase number two don't worry about me phrase number three and i'll figure it out phrase number four |
| 0:35.5 | okay open your eyes. Did anything tighten? |
| 0:39.3 | Did you have a little flicker anywhere? |
| 0:41.3 | Is anything familiar to you about those phrases? |
| 0:46.3 | And if the answer is yes, then this episode of the Cherokeeole show is for you, my friend, |
| 0:51.3 | because I'm going to be talking about the four most common. |
| 0:54.8 | There's lots of common ones, but I think these are probably the top four that high functioning |
| 0:59.3 | codependents say to sort of protect their hyper independence, their hypervigilance, |
| 1:06.9 | but so much of this is habituated behaviors. |
| 1:10.1 | So in today's episode where I'm going to break down each one of those phrases, why we say it, what the secondary or the hidden gain is in doing it, and what you can swap it out for. So I'm creating in the guide. I just gave you a bunch of scripts that we are swapping out for these swips. But before we get into it, I just want to say |
| 1:31.3 | thank you so much for hanging out with me. There's a zillion other places you could be right now, |
| 1:36.8 | but the fact that you are here really, truly warms my heart. So thank you for tuning in. |
| 1:42.9 | And I also want to say thank you to Cat 56442 for this |
| 1:46.9 | five-star review of the Terry Cole show. Ready go. Thank you, it says. I'm a mother of five and a nurse |
| 1:52.2 | practitioner for the past 25 years. Your show has helped me as a parent as well as a health care |
| 1:56.8 | provider. Recognizing high function, codependency, and mother, father, wounds. Sharing your |
| 2:00.9 | books and podcasts has helped many. Thank you. Well, Kat, 56442. Thank you for sharing it and spreading the |
... |
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