The Power to Overcome.
I wish I could take the credit for all of the words to follow; but much of this is adapted from a chapter in the book Wisdom for the Way, Wise Words for Busy People by Charles R. Swindoll.
Can’t and Won’t are words that are so similarly powerful and yet uniquely different. What is even more interesting is that we use them interchangeably as if they were one in the same. If we stopped to take a moment to reflect on how these words shape our lives; I imagine our lives would look a little different. If we were to be completely honest with ourselves I would also imagine that we are guilty of choosing the word CAN’T more readily than we do WON’T.
“I just can’t get along with my wife.”
“My husband and I can’t communicate.”
“I can’t control my kids”
“I can’t give up the affair I am having”
“I can’t stop giving my family money I don’t have”
“I can’t lose weight”
“I can’t stop being angry”
“I can’t save money”
“I can’t say no”
In any, and likely all, of these instances the CAN’T should be replaced with WON’T. A person has control over each one of the behaviors above. We may not have control over someone asking us for money; but we do have control over rather or not we give it. We may not have control over our spouse being verbally attacking; but we do have control over how we reciprocate those behaviors. We may not be able to control the things people do (or have done) to us; but we can control how long we hold on to those unproductive feelings of anger.
Everyone has the power and ability to overcome. Can’t releases one of accountability. It is easy to just say “I Can’t”. ‘Won’t’ is a little more challenging. Won’t Causes us to hold ourselves accountable for our own stuff and minimizes the ability to blame others. So hopefully, we can continue to replace our can’t with, won’t and eventually turn our won’t into WILL! If you WILLbegin this change in your internal communication; then your external communication will follow. You will then have the power to overcome any perceived barrier that is hindering you from accomplishing all life has to offer.