Stop Saying “I Can’t Wait!”

Today's post gets a little woo, so give your inner cynic some popcorn and an iPad to keep them distracted as we delve into why it's time to stop saying "I can't wait."

Every time I see someone write the phrase "I can't wait," I cringe. They have no idea the damage they're doing with those three simple words.

Ready for a mindset shift that might change everything?

Your subconscious, universe, source—whatever resonates with you—doesn't hear negative words. What do I mean by that? When you say "can't," your subconscious only registers "can." When you say "don't," it hears "do." When you use the word "except," your subconscious drops it from the sentence completely, and suddenly you're asking for the exact thing you're trying to avoid.

Are you with me, or are you scratching your head? Let me give you a real-life example.

When I bought my last car, I knew exactly which car I wanted. We made an appointment to go to the dealership—and I was so excited! A few weeks before, I said out loud that I would love "any color except black" for my new car. When we showed up at the dealership, guess which colors we had to choose from?

They had 3 models of the car we wanted. All three were black!! They had sold their last blue one the day before.

I thought to myself, "Oh crap, I brought this on myself." Because I said I wanted "any color except black," which meant the universe heard "I want any color black." So that was all I got to pick from.

It's the same thing when you say "I can't wait." You're actually telling your brain "I can wait"—which is the opposite of what you mean!

What you think about, you bring about. Let's focus on the things you actually want. The more you dwell on what you don't want, the more those things are magnetized toward you.

Be aware of your words and what you’re calling into your life and experiences.

Right now, I feel pretty stressed by the state of the world, and that I don’t have control of what’s happening. But this—this is something I can control. I can choose my words wisely. I can choose words that support my goals, the life I want, and the people I want surrounding me.

Your words have power. Your actions have power. So choose them mindfully to get the things you actually want—whether that's a new car, a new friend, or finally feeling comfortable showing your true ADHD-weird-authentic self to the world.

Your brain already works on overdrive sorting through conflicting signals. Stop adding to the confusion and be intentional with your words.

So what can we say instead of "I can't wait"?

• "I'm so excited to see you!"

• "Looking forward to our tea date!"

• "Eeeek, I’m so stoked we FINALLY get to try that restaurant tomorrow!"

• "See you soon!"

Let's ditch the "can'ts," "don'ts," and "excepts" because they're not serving us.

Be super mindful of the words you're writing and saying—those have the most power. The words you're thinking have some power too, but when you vocalize or write them down, they magnetize.

Follow these steps to reprogram your “I can’t waits” into something positive:

1. Notice when you say “I can’t wait”

2. Ask yourself, what feeling or emotion am I expressing?

3. What can I say instead that will capture that feeling/emotion?

4. Say or write that instead!

This is extra important if you feel like people cancel on you all the time, especially at the last minute. Get curious about your words. What are you saying? What are you writing down? What are you putting in texts? If it's a lot of "I can't wait" and similar phrases, switch up your words and watch how many more plans come to fruition.

Thank you for diving into the woo with me today!

I'm open to your questions and ecstatic to help you workshop through reworking your phrases. Or if you're like, Wait, what? I need another example, hit reply! I love geeking out on this stuff and was honestly a bit freaked out to share it with you. But now that I've done it, I'm excited to share more ways our brains can work with us instead of against us.

Journaling Prompt: What's one way you can reword “I can’t wait”?