Day 18: Just say no.

Saying no is empowering.

It really is. It allows you to see how much power you have over your choices.

Saying no is ok.

At a young age we’ve learned that sharing is caring. We were taught to give. If your peer asked to play with your toy, you were encouraged to say yes, because sharing is caring.

That is absolutely a great thing to teach a child. I wonder, what if we were taught that it’s ok to say no sometimes? Without an explanation or reason given, it’s ok to say no because… it is ours.

I find the principle of sharing is caring played out with some adults. Those are the adults usually bound by obligations to share their time and effort because they said one word, “yes.”

“Yes I will go”, “yes I can do that for you”, “yes”, “yes”, “yes!”

After they gave out their yes’s they are left feeling drained and tired.

That “yes” holds some much power and weight. It embraces commitment, dedication, and promise. I’ve seen adults being so unhappy saying “yes” to make others happy. Ive seen adults share their time with others when they should have and could have used that time for themselves.

In certain cases it’s ok to be selfish with your yes’s and generous with your no’s.

It’s ok to set aside one day to say no in order to enjoy your own company, relax, take part in self care.

Saying no in some cases doesn’t mean you’re a bad person…