Don’t Tell Me You Can’t

It makes me crazy to hear someone say, “I can’t”. In my house, can’t is a bad word. There are very VERY few words that I find more offensive than can’t. Now I realize that people do have their limitations and there legitimately are things that we are not able to do, but I feel that more people give up entirely too easily. I would rather try and fail a thousand times than to just give up.

I should say that I have not always felt that way. At times I have felt so overwhelmed that I felt like it was easier to not even try. I have tried and felt it was too hard and given up. Not trying and giving up got me to my highest weight. So when I think “I can’t” I stop and breathe and think “I can stop or I can try until I can”.

I am at a point where I exercise every day. I get up and I exercise. I don’t think about how fat I am and how I can’t do it. I don’t focus on what I can’t do. I get up and move my butt. I do as much as I can, as fast as I can, as strong as I can. I push and pull and move and sweat. I don’t do every move perfectly. There are a lot of things that I am not able to do yet. If I focused on everything that I can’t do, I might give up. I don’t. I do what I can and I work on what I am not yet able to do. I know that I am getting better and stronger all the time. I am getting more endurance, more flexibility, more confidence, and more faith. I am getting better because I can. Because I focus on what I can can, every day that list grows.

When people ask me how I do it, I say, I just do. It’s not easy. On my best day it isn’t easy, and my best days are few and far between. When it’s time to exercise and you think you can’t then think about me. I have been overweight my entire life. At my highest weight I was 630 pounds. I have asthma, arthritis, and fibromyalsia. I have compressed vertebrae in my back, compartment syndrome in my lower right leg, and bursitis in my left ankle. I hurt every day. I hurt EVERY day. There is never a day that I don’t hurt. There are days that I hurt less, but there is never a day that I don’t hurt at all. There are days that all I want to do is sleep. There are days that I have to force myself to take every single step, and I do. I do and so can you. If I can lift my big, fat leg up and kick, so can do. Don’t tell me that you can’t.