Bye Bye Negative thought #6:

“I can’t ___ because I’m stuck here.”

I can’t take vacation (I don’t have time).

I can’t leave this position (I have nowhere else to go).

I can’t ask for what I really want (they’ll never say yes).

I can’t take time off (people will think badly of me).

I can’t because I’m stuck here.

These are all just beliefs coming out of your head with no real substantial grounding. These beliefs aren’t serving you and aren’t helping you create your best life. So it is time for them TO GO!

Because the truth is: you are never stuck. There are workarounds for your situation and any situation. You just have to be open to explore and get out of the damn “safe” box.

When I was working at the clinic and I had vacation time, I didn’t take it. I believed there was just too much work all the time or if I was gone, things would go to hell. But the real truth is that if you have a good staff and processes in place AND your mind is not working against you, you can leave and patients get taken care of, emergencies get handled, and you come back better! So much better than when you left!

My business coach, Susan Hyatt, leads retreats for women all over the world. I used to DIE of jealousy looking at her pics from Italy, Greece, Ireland, Thailand and more. Literally, I had to block her from my facebook feed for awhile because it hurt SO much to see these amazing pictures and what I had missed out because of “I can’ts.”

I used to think, I can’t go to Italy. I’m stuck here. I can’t have experiences because I’m adulting right now. I have young kids. I have to make the income. I have patients who need me. I have colleagues who will hate me.

There are so many reasons why you shouldn’t or couldn’t do that amazing thing you’re longing to do.

But here’s the flip side, and why you should say YES to experiences: because deep down something about this, you are desiring. You need to lean in when you feel this. Why? Because that’s were the magic of life happens! Not a big “woo-woo, dragons aren’t real” kind of person. Well, I tried not to be either. I pushed back against anything that couldn’t be explained logically. But guess what happened when I start to open up and say, “why not” or “what if…”

AMAZINGNESS CAME INTO MY LIFE.

Instead of telling myself I can’t do something, now I start asking myself how I can find creative ways to go on adventures.

I go to a conference and it’s a business write-off!

I take Fridays off to go hiking and kayaking (and sometimes bringing my kids along for the ride.)

I can do whatever I want with my weekends because now that I don’t spend half the weekend recovering from the sucky work week.

Instead of saying “I can’t,” I say, “I can, I just need to figure out the details.”

What should you say yes to?