Let Negative Words from Others Positively Shape Your Life

In one of the social media groups I belong to, someone posted the following:

“Words have power.

What is something someone has said to you that has changed your life?”

My response?

At a very young age, my mother said, “You can’t ___ (fill in the blank).” It really didn’t matter what she thought I couldn’t do, it was my response to that challenge that molded my life.

For years, as my mother told this story, she said I responded with,

It was the attitude that got me through the novel Oliver Twist for a 7th-grade book report when the teacher told me the book was too long. It was the attitude that found me passing geometry when the teacher told me I had to pass the final with at least a “B” (an impossibility in her mind) in order to pass for the semester. It was the attitude that secured me with role after role in college theatrical productions because, according to my mother, the theater majors were the only students to be cast.

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One comment or experience can change a person, can motivate them into choosing a clearer path on their life’s journey, and can help them pick themselves up and try again.

In June 2017, I wrote about the phrase “I think I can” and the story of the Little Engine that Could. (You can read that article HERE.)

Isn’t it time we stop listening to those people who tell us we can’t do something or try something because we aren’t good enough or talented enough or the right height or the right weight or the right age?

Isn’t it time to show people what we can do? Isn’t it time we show people over and over and over?

Isn’t it time to encourage people to reach for the stars? Because if you never reach, you never know just how far you can go.

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What about you?

What are some seemingly negative comments that you have received that you have turned into positive motivation? Please take a moment to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

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Until next time . . .

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