Top 10 Words to Be Lobotomized - And Some Super Awesome Replacements
Monday, November 28, 2011 at 3:22PM 
Last week I asked you: If you could eliminate one word from your brain forever - what would it be?
My word was "enough."
As in:
Good enough. Enough money. Enough love. Enough of anything. Within that word is an implicit sense of scarcity. And I would like to replace it with a word spilling over with abundance.
Plenty.
Plenty of money. Plenty of love. Plenty of everything.
Between Facebook, Twitter and email I received over 100 of your answers. Some profound. Some funny. Some that really made me think. The list was too good to not share.
Here are the Top 10
1. Can't - I can't do it. Can't try it. Can't succeed. Can't win. Can't love. Can't quit. Can't start. Can't understand. Can't take the risk.
Replace with: I can. I will. Watch me.
2. Hate - I hate it when you do that. I hate him. I hate this. I hate myself.
Replace with: I love. I accept. I allow.
3. Should - I should make more money. I should call her. I should go. I should do more. I should be more.
Replace with: I will. I can. I'm ok. Life is ok.
4. Overwhelmed - There's too much to do. I'm overwhelmed with my list. With my work. With my boss. With my kids. Busy-ness. Distractions. Lack of focus.
Replace with: I am doing this. Right here. Right now. And this is good.
5. Have to (Even though this is technically 2 words - 20 people listed it.) I have to be better. I have to do that. I have to be there. I have to pay for that. I have to work out. I have to work more. I have to go home.
Replace with: I choose. I get to. I am doing this.
6. Hard - That's a hard decision. This is a hard choice. This is too hard. It will be too hard. I don't want it to be hard.
Replace with: I can do this. I was built for this. It is what it is. I'm up to the challenge. Ease.
7. Fear/Afraid - I'm afraid to do that. I'm afraid to change. I'm afraid she won't like me. I'm afraid of what will happen.
Replace with: I trust. I am willing. I am safe.
8. Fail/Failure - I might fail. People will know I'm a failure.
Replace with: I will win. I can win. I will succeed. Success is my choice.
9. Try - I'll try to. I'll try not to.
Replace with: Do. Will. Succeed.
10. Never - That'll never work. This will never last.
Replace with: Can. Will. Always.
More words worth mentioning:
Instead of Tired. Work. No.
Excited. Play. Yes.
Instead of Jealousy.
Trust.
Instead of Procrastination. Someday. Late.
Now.
Instead of Need. Want.
Give.
Instead of If.
When.
Instead of Compare.
Connection.
Instead of Inadequate. Loser. Stupid.
Worthy.
Instead of Quit.
Strong.
Instead of Stress.
Calm.
Instead of Regret.
Forgive.
PS. For the people who don't know each other and independently gave me these answers: blind date (amen), drink, hella, tequila, vomit and all slang created after 1990. I kind of want to throw a party just to invite you all over. I'm thinkin you just might be a fun bunch of people.
PPS. To the person who said fuck. I can not agree with this. Not on my watch baby. Fuck is a valuable part of our language. This word is way too necessary to be labotomized.
Reader Comments (7)
This is one of my new favorite posts. Thanks!
Meadow! How the hell did you fall off my radar! You're back in my in box now... I love how you think! Thanks Lailey Jenkins for forwarding this post to me... timely, perfect.
Kelly
...and thanks for the replacement for ENOUGH... i'm always using that word but PLENTY IS waaaaay better!
Great list, Meadow! Lots of food for thought, thanks. FYI, the correct spelling is 'lobotomized' - two 'o's. ;-)
OMG - Jen. That's hilarious. I can't believe I've had this on my site since Monday with a mis-spelled word in the title! So funny.
You're so funny! Thanks for making me laugh - and for not getting mad. And just to show that we all make mistakes - lobotomized has THREE o's, not two! lol
So my favorite part is that I fixed the mis-spelling. Which ended up erasing all of the 'likes' and 'shares' on facebook. And broke all of the link backs. AND... that my blog thought it had a new post - so it sent it out to everyone again.
Oy vey. I think I'll try to stick to simpler words in my titles from now on.