Can't is a slacker too lazy to work.

Thank you for enduring my 1 week hiatus from posting. I went on vacation, am now back and can return to the wild and zany world of white board words of inspiration.

This is the all-time most common Grandma-ism I have. I was going to save it for the anniversary of her passing, but it seemed appropriate for today. I miss you grandma, more than I ever thought I would, but I think of you almost every day.

You can ask anyone who knew my grandma and without a doubt each person would say the same thing. If you ever uttered the word can’t for any reason whatsoever around her she would snap out “Can’t is a slacker too lazy to work.” There was no thinking or considering of what you might have said can’t about. To her there was nothing that you couldn’t do if you set your mind to it. The constant barrage of that message was passed onto my dad and onto me. I heard it from her lips plenty of times and I say it to my daughter as well. In fact I am pretty sure Grandma said it to her as well during their time together. The truth is she was a product of her era. Everything she got, was through hard work and grit. This made a better world for the rest of us. We all take that for granted and look at where we are now.

I am frequently wondering if we make our daughter’s life to easy, will she understand the work it requires to find success? Will she know the feeling of a job well done and the rewards both internal and external for that hard work? We don’t want her to suffer to overcome, but we do want her to have an understanding of hard work can bring rewards that are immeasurable.

What about you? Today’s adult population needs a lesson from those WWII depression babies, that broke their backs to make this country the super power it became and we are threatening to let go of. Forget politics and things bigger than what you are facing at home and at work. What are you doing to value what you have and make the best of it? If you are uttering can’t about anything, why are you? How did you get put in a situation that made you think you can’t. The way you talk to yourself and the choices you make in the face of a decision that is need vs. want say a lot about your resolve and self-control. If you say you can’t because you perceive someone as standing in the way of what you want, then you are passing the buck. No one can stand in your way, but yourself. This person you are blaming is just an obstacle in the road that you need to work your way around.

All the good things in life do not come instantly, have some patience and recognize that good things really do come to those who wait. I am just as bad as the next guy, but I get better all the time. Reminding myself that I don’t need it right now. I can wait and see what develops and the right opportunity will come along. Besides you appreciate those things so much more when you know it’s the right thing, not just the right thing right now.