don's report archive

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

I Can't Do It!
Thursday June 23, 2005

Face facts--it's the healthy thing to do and always the best choice in life. As to why you are not the master of the universe, or why you are not rich, or beautiful, or thin or smart or, getting back to a topic I know something about, living a wellness lifestyle, consider this simple explanation: "I can't do it." What could be simpler than that?

My wellness advice is "stop tilting at windmills." Don Quixote tilted at windmills, and where did it get him? Why bust your buns trying to do that which is beyond your reach? Accept your mediocrity. Deal with the obvious and remind yourself of how things really are. Repeat after me: "I can't do it."

Take a wellness lifestyle, for example. If you COULD choose, put into practice and sustain healthy choices, you would. You would accept responsibility for the quality of your life and you would therefore exercise vigorously on a regular basis, eat well, manage stress, think critically and all the rest. Who wouldn't? After all, wellness is fun, romantic and hip, sexy and free. It's a richer way to be alive. You'd be a little crazy not to live this way--IF YOU COULD. However, the sorry situation for most Americans, I regret to advise, is that insurmountable barriers stand in the way of thinking and behaving in ways consistent with their own best interests. Therefore, you and nearly everyone else would be better off accepting the "I can't do it" credo.

The best chance TO advance toward a wellness lifestyle, or other positive goals that you value, curiously enough, might come from accepting this "I can't do it" mantra. At that point, you might have some prospects, though still remote, of doing it! Futile struggles against overpowering forces can more easily be put aside. Accept the notion "I can't do it" and, counter intuitively, it becomes easier to get on with your life. Then you can do what is possible and be grateful and appreciative of every advance. If you do "it"--regardless of what "it" might be AFTER accepting at an emotional level that "I can't do it," the outcome will provide an unexpected treat. Thereafter, you begin realizing other, unexpected advances that once fell in the "I can't do it category." Other desired skills and habit patterns can then be attempted in a low-key fashion. Keep the bar low and don't try too much. Without the baggage of fear of failure or similar anxieties great and small that burden the quest for ambitious goals of an "I can do anything" variety, you'll IMPROVE the chances of doing it. But, the mindset I advise is "I can't do it."

A barrier exists between what you know intellectually and what you can do biologically. The goal should be "I'm doomed." After all, who isn't, in the long run, which, of course, is not so long at all. Face it, you're heading for annihilation any day now. Lighten up. Embrace limiting potentials and feel better about them. Let everyone else dream the impossible dream--and gnash his/her teeth in the throes of futility and desperation. The NIKE slogan "Just Do It" is ridiculous. Better to take the view, "I can't do anything" or, better yet, simply "I Can't Do It."

Just the other day, a Wall Street Journal article entitled "Finding Time to Exercise by Kevin Helliker (June 20, 2005) contained this sensible observation: "...exercise offers a relatively sure-fire and important way to feel successful on even the most frustrating days. Set the bar so low initially as to guarantee success -- 10 minutes a day? -- and recognize that walking and taking the stairs count."

That's good advice, in my opinion. After all, you are responsible for your daily actions but not your limited abilities. Resolve today to be well and always look on the bright side of life, even if you know, deep down, that "I can't do it."

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the MENTAL DOMAIN under the skill area of factual knowledge. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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