I was meeting with a client this week talking about the struggle of saying no. So many of us, wanting to be people pleasers worry about the repercussions of saying no. I challenged my client to think about how saying no might actually be saying yes. Here are some thoughts about how this might be the case:
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It can free up time to allow for self-care.
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It may allow us to spend more time doing other things that take priority or that have been hanging over our head.
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It can allow us to be more present in our lives for the things we have already said yes to.
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Maybe by you saying no this allows someone else an opportunity to say yes?
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Perhaps saying no to one opportunity actually allows for time to commit to something else.
Recently I’ve reminded myself to take pause before saying yes/no. This allows me time to be thorough and thoughtful in my decision making. If you find yourself still struggling with how to proceed, you might consider what the three most important values/priorities in your life right now. If this new opportunity does not somehow feed into one of those perhaps it is not the time to take this on. If it does align with one of those values then maybe there is something else that you are involved in that you can let go of so that you can more easily say yes?
It is so important to pay attention to what we are involved in from day to day so that we do not become stressed, overwhelmed, resentful, and unhappy in our lives. *7/20/2021 Today I’m adding a podcast where I talk about this same topic. It is something I have come back to yearly with my clients.
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