My teacher once told me that I need to “become the best Lindsey you can be, because she is such a gift.” What may have seemed like a simple phrase to her really inspired me and has now become my own personal motto. She always held me to a higher standard and accepted nothing less than my personal best. She also disliked the word “can’t,” because she did not want for me to limit myself. Instead, she pushed all of us students, regardless of who we were, to change our perspective from “I can’t” to “I can.”

As one of my New Year’s resolutions and Lenten sacrifices, I thought of my teacher's words and gave up using the word “can’t” to become the best I can be. As a girl, I was often told that I can’t be or do certain things simply because I was a girl. Although I don’t believe any of these, I found that I was internalizing this “can’t” mentality. I was saying “I can’t” for everything and anything, like if I didn’t want to do something. I am capable, however, so all I needed to do was turn those “can’t” into “can”s.

So how can you give up something like this? For me, whenever I caught myself saying or thinking “I can’t” then I rephrased it as something “I can do.” It’s not that I can’t lift 20 lbs, but rather that I can currently only lift 10 lbs when I workout. Consider not just saying that you "can" but also writing it down so that you can have a good, visible reminder of how capable you are. If you want to take this further, rephrase your “can’t”s into “can”s, and then actually do them. This encouraged me to try things I previously thought I was incapable of just to see what I could do. So I can and I will.

So go become the best you that you can be! Turn your “can’t”s into “can”s and see what you are capable of.