(First and foremost, my grandest and most sincere apologies for taking a week off. I am pretty sure in the world of blogging that is a huge no-no. But since I do this just for fun, I am almost certain you will all forgive me!)
Anyone need one of these buttons right about now? Find yourself saying yes a little too often?
Some questions in life are met with a whole-hearted ..YES! Would you like to go out? Yes! Would you like to travel to Italy? Yes! Will you marry me? Yes! Others, and those that most of us are faced with every day, also get a yes -but not an enthusiastic one.
In my world, being a parent of school aged children, yeses look something like this. Yes, I can provide a peanut free snack. Yes, I will chaperone a field trip in the pouring rain. Yes, I will serve as room parent. I would love to sit on a new PTA committee. Sure, I’ll coach. I guess I can volunteer more than 1 hour a week in the classroom. You think I can organize a large family event? (notice that last one isn’t really a yes….but it is not a no.) Yes. Yes. Yes.
Your yeses could be very similar or very different. But let’s face it, no is a four letter word masquerading as a two letter word.
Why do we say yes when we really mean no?
Guilt. We don’t want to disappoint anyone. Peer pressure. Keeping up. Climbing a ladder headed somewhere. Someone has to say yes. No one else is saying yes. Worried the boss might be pissed. Guilt.
We know the phrase, but too often forget it. It is OK to say no. (Repeat that 3 times to your self.)
How do we solve this problem? Maybe it is as simple as this. Say yes to things that interest you. Say yes to something you are passionate about. Say yes for things that honestly add to the the well-being of your family. Say yes to things that feed your soul. Say yes to something that does not revolve around or involve your children. Say yes to something that allows you to spend time with people you truly like. Say yes, but be picky.
Say hell ya…to saying no!
