The other day I was speaking to my friend David Lucas. He shared with me a truly great story about overcoming one’s self-doubt and negative self talk.
David is a single father raising two sons, Blake (Age 6) and Bradley (Age 7). He shares custody with his sons and on the way to pick them up and drop them off at their mother’s house, there is a hill called, Bountiful B. Its called Bountiful B because there is a large capital letter B on the side of the hill.
David wanted to do something special for his two boys by incorporating the hill, because his boys see it so often. The fact that both of the boys’ names begin with the letter B was also of importance. Moreover, David felt it would add an special emotional connection for his two sons as they grow older and see the hill on their way to and from their mother’s house.
He really wanted to create a special memory to teach them that anything is possible in life.
That evening while the three of them were together, he let his two boys know that the following day they would be climbing Bountiful B to the very top.
In addition, the three of them sat down at the kitchen table, and each of them wrote on a separate piece of paper the phrase, “I Can’t”.
He then told them that they would be putting their “I Can’ts” into a container and burying them tomorrow at the top of Bountiful B.
He told them that once you bury your “I Can’t” all that remains is, “I Can”.
David is a very special father, always on the lookout for creating memorable moments with his boys.
The next day, as the three began their ascent up Bountiful B, David told me that he had specifically chosen a more challenging route to take then up the hill just to see how the two would handle it.
Half way up, his oldest boy, Bradley, began to complain that he couldn’t continue as tears welled up in his eyes.
It was at that very moment, that the youngest son, Blake, yelled from behind, “Bradley, Yes you can! You can do it! Remember last night we got rid of our “I can’ts” !”
The oldest son, Bradley, paused briefly, and said, “Okay.” And the three of them went on up the mountain.
When they got to the top, they buried their “I Can’ts” and enjoyed the rest of the day.
When they got home, David printed out a color photo of the hill and purposely put the photo smack dab in the center of the refrigerator, so that his two boys could see each time they are eating at the table.
Later that evening, while the three of them were eating dinner, Bradley began to tear up and cry.
His father asked, “What’s the matter? Is everything okay?”
Bradley answered, “There’s too much food on my plate, and I can’t finish it all.”
Just then his younger brother, Blake, blurted out while pointed to the picture of Bountiful B on the refrigerator and said, “You can do it!”
This story is a great real-life example straight out of the lives of our youth about letting go of our doubts moving forward in-spite of all the negative self-talk that seems to permeate our thinking.
When we start believing that we “can do it” no matter what, the skies really are the limits.
We need to be our own best cheerleader and not our worst critic. It’s so easy to fall victim to a poverty mentality of “woes me” and have a pity party of one.
Challenge yourself to push yourself beyond even what you thought was possible. You will never know until you try. Whats more you find out and even possibly discover that you had talents and skills you had no idea existed in the first place.
Life is what you make it. So go out and make something of yourself.
Confront your demons, face your fears, let go of anxiety and worry, and realize that none of them exist for real. They only exist as long as we allow them to control us. Take control of your life. You only have one life to live. So go out and live it.
