I CAN

Somehow my dad instilled in us that we could do whatever we put our mind to and it started with trying. While much of my childhood reminds me of how much we failed my dad, there were definitely moments that he instilled positive reinforcement that we were capable and we had to put one leg in front of the other and go. A blog post from the early days of my blog brings back memories of my dad, titled: “The I CAN.” I cannot say that I exhibited a strong sense of believing in those days that anything was possible. Over the years of health challenges and other issues, mixed with the raw and real reality that somehow I have always had just what I needed, these past few years I have a newfound zeal for doing anything and everything possible to suck the life out of every day.

In my mid twenties to early thirties I went through a tough medical challenge. While I do not really care to share the details, I will tell you that when I got through it I looked at life with a new lens. Yes, I jumped into life head, feet, and whole body first. I was finally able to make it through my day without my body crashing at 2 pm. I could run (at first slowly). I could sweat again. This video makes me happy because I hope women of all shapes and sizes feel the same way. Due to my health challenges I had gained over 40 pounds so I can attest to what it felt like to start moving again. Take a peek at the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aN7lt0CYwHg

Inspired? It is from the UK group “This Girl Can.” I hope that all girls, women, ladies (whatever you want to be called) feel they can move, sweat, and do what they want. It feels good to jump, dive, swim, run, bike, and move. Bring it. Go. Be. Move fast. Sweat it all out.

My dad and the “I CAN.” I wish I still had a picture of the “I CAN.” Imagine a large size of Campbell’s Tomato Soup. The giant size that feeds a family. Take off the soup label so you just have the can, and take two bottle caps and nail them in to make eyes. (Forgive me for forgetting what my dad used for the nose and mouth). He then took a large strip of yellow paper and in large letters wrote I CAN. He gave one of these each to my sister, brother, and me. The I CAN sat on our desks, and we used them for pencils, pens, and markers.

So now that you know what it looked like (sans the nose and mouth), the purpose of the I CAN was a reminder to each of us that we could and were capable of anything. Now, I am not sure my dad was always thinking of the bigger world and all the mountains we could climb or all the things we could accomplish, but his point did hit home. Whenever we were asked to do something and we either did not want to or felt we could not do it or were not capable and the words I CAN’T came out of our mouth, my dad would say: “Should we go get your I CAN?” He would often also add: “Can’t didn’t do anything.” His point most of the time was that we could switch the laundry, clean up after the dog, reach something that was too high (that was what the stool was for), and that most of the time we just did not want to try. Maybe he did not want to do the task at hand, maybe he just wanted us to know we could do it ourselves, whatever the true motivations behind the I CAN, it was a prevalent fixture during my elementary school years.

I am not sure I thought much about the I CAN after my dad moved out, or when I left home, or when I later did not have the option to physically speak to him each day. Regardless, I sometimes thought of the I CAN sitting on my desk, and thought of him saying: “Can’t didn’t do anything.” Thank you, Dad. Whatever was your motivation, I hope I have grown up enough to say: “I have a choice as to whether I am going to do this, but I am not going to NOT do it because I do not think I CAN, or because of fear, or because I do not want to try.”

Hopefully this inspires you to go into your day with a little inspiration that you CAN do more.