I wanted to share with you some thoughts I had recently.
I was talking with a group of people who were all at stages in their lives where they feel they needed to, or wanted to, make a change of some kind. One person there wanted to change her career completely but said several times "I don't know if I can do it."
It then occurred to me that we all ask that question a lot:
Can I have more time to do what I want to?
Can I afford a holiday?
Can I work part time?
Can I be paid for what I enjoy doing?
and so on - the list of "can I's" in life is probably endless, especially with the demands on everyone now and the fast pace of change in our society.
Most people think of "Can I?" in the sense of "Am I able to?" but I realised that equally important is the sense of asking permission. When we say "Can I open the window?" we are asking permission, not if we are able to do it.
So it is important that we give ourselves permission to do things sometimes. There are times in our lives when we need to allow ourselves to take a risk, to be scared, to go against the grain of what is often accepted, or even to just stop for a while and think, while the rest of the world is rushing madly by.
Next time you are thinking about making a change in your life, find a quiet place, stand there and think to yourself - "Can I do it?"
