Have you been dealt some unfair blows lately? Has your life been impacted by grief and loss? Has trauma blown your life apart? If you answered ‘yes’ to one or more of these questions you have been through hard things. This also verifies that you CAN do hard things. 
It’s almost a year since my Dad passed away from pancreatic cancer. That was a hard thing. Watching him deteriorate, go in to hospice and die was one of the hardest times I’ve gone through. During such times we can wonder if we’ll make it through. Or whether or not we can cope with all the things that are going on in our lives during such a time. It’s often the layers of stress, grief, fear, sadness, trauma, etc. that push us into points of overwhelm.
The very fact you are reading this tells me something about you. You are a survivor. I know that because you’re still here and you’re reading this post. Therefore, you can do hard things. You already have. Hard things aren’t easy, in fact they pretty much suck! No one wants to do hard things or go through hard times. But to know that we can — that we are capable is huge. It might be messy. We may not like how we got through it. Don’t disempower yourself by ‘can’t-ing.’ “I can’t do this! I can’t keep living like this…” Are you doing it? Are you continuing to live through it? If so, then you CAN do it because you ARE, it’s just ridiculously hard…or you hate it or (fill in the blank_______________).
Sometimes we just need to know that we have what it takes to get through the difficult stuff. We CAN do hard things! If we don’t believe that fact we are prone to sabotage ourselves. You’ve got this! You have grit. Guts. Will.
What we tell ourselves matters. A lot! It’s not just positive thinking it’s literally the pathway on which our brain runs. Are you going to drive in the rut that says negative, sabotaging statements? OR are you going to drive in the rut that says positive, helpful and effective statements? For example, ‘I can do hard things.’
As we head toward the one year mark of my Dad’s death, I feel grief and sadness because I miss him. It’s not the same without him. I’ve gone through a lot these past two years and it has impacted me. Yet, I am healing. I can do hard things. And so can you.
