A powerful (& personal) lesson on "I can't"...

For a few months I’ve been working with a new doctor on some health challenges I’ve been experiencing. (Nothing major. Just playing detective and getting to the root cause of some things.)

Through testing, I discovered that I am allergic to gluten, dairy, soy and a few other things. So, a couple weeks ago I went cold turkey and cut those out of my diet, right along with caffeine.

I’m not gonna lie—it was hard and painful! And, my sweet body reacted big time during the detox. I was weak and tired with terrible migraines and nausea.

The day that I felt the worst, I looked at my schedule and realized I had three really important meetings. I thought: “I can’t cancel them. It’s so disrespectful to cancel them now at such short notice. I’ll just have to rally and get through it.”

Then I paused… and rewound those thoughts. I got curious about those thoughts.

Were they really true? Could I really not cancel my plans? Who was telling me I couldn’t cancel them? I was…so why couldn’t I change them?

When I got real with myself—who would I possibly be serving in the state I was in? How would I really be able to make a difference or access my creativity?

I mean, I was curled up by the toilet! (TMI? Sorry.) That’s how sick I was.

And, here came the lesson: I could choose I CAN.

It may sound silly to you, but this was huge for me. I have been a doer in my life – pushing myself to meet the demands at hand. It never occurred to me that not only could I cancel, but that that might be the absolute best thing for everyone involved.

I felt a tremendous sense of relief. I gave myself permission to say “ I can cancel all my plans and just rest today. I can reschedule them when I feel better. I can take care of myself and my body.”

It was an incredibly liberating moment. And, as I basked in the freedom and relief, I found myself thinking of you. Do you often tell yourself you can’t do something because it will disappoint others? Or because it would mean you weren’t keeping your commitments? Or because you don’t have the skills or credentials?

Let me serve as a big, bold reminder today that that way of thinking is limiting you. It’s shutting you off and shutting you down. You can give yourself permission to choose anything—I can’t or I can. It all comes from inside of you. That is the point of power.

You’ll be happy to know that each meeting I mentioned got rescheduled quickly and easily and that no one was upset in the process. Everyone actually understood. Pretty amazing, right?

I’m so grateful to my body and that pain for this powerful lesson. I appreciate my willingness to pause and get curious about the story I was telling myself in that moment.

This is something available to all of us. Just because something’s in our mind doesn’t mean it’s true. (Click to Tweet!) I encourage you to press the pause button and rewind button and get curious about what’s going on in your head. I imagine there’s some really good learnings available for you there too.

In the comments below, I invite you to share your thoughts on this story—especially if it rings true for you. If you are a doer and worried you’ll disappoint others all the time. What lesson might be available to you in the “I can’t” / “I can”?

Thank you for reading and sharing.

With loving,
Amber