It is so interesting how many people have started their sentences with “I can’t” and “I could never” in response to my Whole30 detox. Mostly:

I could NEVER live without chocolate!

My response:

Actually, you CAN! You will live if you don’t eat chocolate for 30 days. Isn’t that crazy?

Okay, so I know that perhaps I am already more health conscious than others, but doing the Whole30 just ain’t that bad. Yes, it requires planning. A lot of it. And it also requires a lot of time in grocery stories and cooking in the kitchen. But what you end up with is 30 days of pure, whole, real food. It’s empowering to know you CAN live without pasta, cheese and chocolate (I know, that isn’t easy). It’s empowering to know you can control your eating habits and not being influenced by others who are tempting you with mac and cheese goodness.

The “I can’t” phenomenon I’ve observed isn’t just around eating. I hear it about careers (“this is my dream job but I don’t have the perfect background, so I can’t apply”) and dating (“I can’t bring up if we are exclusive, it’s too scary, what if he ends it?”) and fitness as well (“I could never run a marathon), among others. And I am not claiming to be immune from it either.

By living in a mindset of “I can’t,” I feel we are holding ourselves back and not letting ourselves reach our highest potential. We need to constantly be challenging ourselves, and pushing ourselves to the limit to achieve our goals and inspire others to do so as well. One of my 2014 goals is to take on a project that challenges and even scares me (more on all my 2014 goals coming soon!). I challenge you to do the same. To take on a project at work, a new healthy lifestyle, a fitness class, or something educational that you have wanted to try but some part of you is holding back.

My personal trainer told me a few weeks ago,

If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.

My troublemakers, how can we cause necessary trouble if we aren’t willing to take on big challenges ourselves? By resisting chocolate for 30 days (and trust me, that’s no easy feat for myself), I am empowering myself to tackle real challenges, to know I am capable of doing things that used to be my “I can’t”s. And to me, that’s an “I can.” How are you going to challenge yourself in the next week, month, and year?