Actually, I Can

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something. Make your own victories. Make your own mistakes. Joan Jett.

 

I dislike motivational messages. Inspiration, motivation, aspiration, these should come from within. But, if there is one thing that irks me more than motivational messages it is the "you can't" message. Kayaking with a group last weekend, I heard so many "you can't" statements it first made me dizzy and then made me determined.

 Easy surf landing in FNQ

"You can't surf a sea kayak, ride a wave into the beach without going broadside, paddle out to sea, launch through surf" and on it went. The fact that we had just done all these things a few days before made no difference to the nay sayers. They simply could not see that these things were possible. 

 

Sometimes it seems as if I have heard "you can't" statements my entire life. Years ago, back when we lived in the mountains of BC, people in our local mountaineering club said "you can't run a climbing camp, maintain those backcountry huts, do that ski traverse, run a weekly climbing night." 

 The climbing camp that was "you can't"

You may, like me, have noticed that the "you can't" people are the same people who also said "I could not learn to eskimo roll, so I can't paddle on the open ocean," or, "I hurt my back, so I can't lift weights," or "I have weak ankles, so I can't bushwalk." They are, in other words, the people who don't simply "argue for their limitations", they embrace them. 

 

Actually, I can

The reality is, just because THEY can't, does not mean YOU can't. Our capacity to do is limited only by our imagination, grit, determination and persistence. So, the next time you hear "you can't" say "Actually, I can."