Can I Wear Red Lipstick?

For years I had many ‘can’ts’ in my vocabulary.

I can’t wear colour.

I can’t wear dresses.

If I do wear dresses, they must be a certain (long) length.

I can’t walk in to a room full of people I don’t know.

I can’t do public speaking.

I can’t have a conversation with someone in a foreign country in their own language.

I can’t wear my hair short.

I can’t wear red lipstick.

So many can’ts. So much negativity.

Easier to hide than put myself out there. Easier to blend in to the background. Easier to never take a risk, stay safe rather than look silly.

It’s taken me years to learn these were limitations I put on myself.

I was the one telling myself that I can’t…. and I am the only one who can tell me I can.

A life-threatening illness and Hugo’s death have shown me that I need to put myself out there. That I don’t do blending in to the background. That I can take risks, don’t mind looking silly, and who cares anyway?

And this week I have discovered such a simple thing – red lipstick. Previously avoided as too bold, I am now rocking it with the shorter hairstyle I love (I wish I’d taken the plunge long ago!).

Don’t let your limitations hold you back. Say can, not can’t to whatever it is that is stopping you going for whatever you want.

Be you.