I Can Do Anything!
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Here’s a video of a little girl whose message in the mirror is worth
emulating:
If we began each day the way this little girl did, we would be set for
life! Imagine what kind of All-In leaders we would be if we approached each day with the same gusto as little Jessica in the video?
It’s a lesson my maternal grandmother taught me as a child. My Nana was
a widow with five children by the time she was 45. She was the busiest woman
I’ve ever known. She lived in Chicago, volunteered for everything under the
sun, travelled, played cards with friends, and lived a gloriously full life. When
she visited my family in Kansas City each summer, my three brothers and I took
turns staying with her at the hotel. Each night to get us to quiet down and go
to sleep, Nana made us repeat the mantra: I like myself.
The older we got, the cornier the mantra became. As teenagers, my
brothers and I talked about the saying and how something like what we tell
ourselves can’t really matter. As we respectfully protested having to repeat
the saying, Nana gave us little quote books and would ask us about them. One
way or another, she was going to be certain we knew the importance of what we
told ourselves.
It turns out, she was right. What we say to ourselves does matter.
We discussed Nana’s visits, the
nightly routine, and the books over the recent Christmas holiday because
December 25th would have been her birthday. My siblings and I grew
up to be pretty good people, but we all agreed that Nana’s mantra had been
replaced by less useful thoughts each night.
Instead of thinking positive
things, all four of us shared that we often fall asleep worrying, planning,
thinking, over-thinking. We had forgotten the simple mantra Nana taught us and
the peace it brought our minds as each day ended.
Maybe it’s time to renew Nana’s
mantra. Or, at least to pay closer attention to the thoughts in our heads. What
if we replaced the stress-inducing nightly thoughts with something more
peaceful, joyful, relaxing? It just might help us approach each day with the
same “I can do anything!” attitude of the little girl. You can't get more All-In than that!
What is your daily affirmation? If you don't have one yet, make it, "I can do anything!"