I was sitting in the Dobbins-Bennett parking lot, waiting to pick up football tickets (ROLL TRIBE!), when a familiar phrase came to mind—one I used to say almost every day while teaching.
I had students who were clearly on the struggle bus—frustrated, stuck, and sometimes just completely over it. When I’d ask them to do something, their first response was often:
“Why?”
“Why do I have to sit there?”
“Why do I have to do this?”
“Why do I have to do that?”
And I would look at them, calmly but clearly, and say:
“Because you can.”
Not as pressure. As possibility.
The opportunity was theirs—to try, to show up, to grow.
It’s your life. Do something with it.
I’m not sure if any of those students remember those words.
But I do. And thank God I do—because now, I’m the one who needs the reminder.
I get frustrated trying to run a business.
Frustrated trying to finish my book.
Frustrated by the little things like weeding (my nemesis), doing laundry, and most of all… waiting.
Waiting is the hardest.
When I’m stuck in it, I catch myself thinking,
“Why do I have to wait?”
“Why is it taking so long?”
“Why can’t it just happen already?”
And that’s when the whisper comes.
A soul-level nudge that gently says:
“Because you can.”
You can be patient.
You can do the hard things.
You can grow in the in-between.
You can wait with purpose.
So if you find yourself on the struggle bus today—tired, restless, or wondering why it’s so hard—this is your reminder:
You can.
Not because it’s easy.
Not because everything is perfect.
But because the opportunity is yours.
Choose life…because you can.