In Others’ Words: Can You or Can’t You?

I cannot sew.

It’s not for lack of trying. I took my first sewing class when I was in high school. After sewing the zipper into a pair of pants backwards not once but twice, I left it that way. Yeah, getting into those “I made them myself” pants was quite an undertaking.

I took two more classes before I abandoned my sewing aspirations. I took the last class with my mother-in-law. Why, I don’t know. I do remember that I drove to class one night and ran a red light — but that’s another story.

I gave away my Singer sewing machine when I was thirty. You know what? I never regretted that decision. I had tried — and failed multiple times — to learn to sew. I knew that I couldn’t sew, would never learn to sew, and most important of all, didn’t want to learn to sew.

The best thing(s) about giving my sewing machine away? My friend who could sew and who needed a sewing machine got one for free. And me? I no longer felt guilty every time I saw that blasted thing gathering dust in the corner of my bedroom.

But even more than that, I was free to spend time doing the things I could do — and learning to do things I really, really wanted to do. Because honestly, I didn’t want to learn to sew. I just thought I should learn to sew. I’d save money making my own clothes and curtains and Christmas gifts, right? Guilt is a powerful motivator — and we waste an awful lot of time doing things we think we should do — and some things we can’t do — because we’re giving into guilt.

In Your Words: What can’t you do? Let’s go ahead and own up to it today — and be okay with it. How have you embraced what you cannot do and the freedom to do what you can? 

The Power of What You Cannot Do  Click to Tweet

How Saying “I Cannot” Makes You Free Click to Tweet