I envy toddlers… So brave… So fearless… So confident in themselves… Why can’t we be like toddlers?
They know exactly what they want and they go for it. They know exactly what they don’t want and stay away from it. The shout out the word NO when they don’t want something or when a person does something they don’t like…
How innocent they are and if only I could find a way to tell them that a few years down the line, this word which they say with so much emphasis and conviction, will become one of the hardest words to say… and I wonder why?
Many times we know a person isn’t good for us, we know the job isn’t right; We know this collaboration will not be beneficial in anyway, we know one thing or the other has no benefit what so ever to us or towards achieving our life goals and yet, we fail to say the simple word that can save us SOOOOOOOO much stress – We fail to just say, NO.
You know what’s even more amazing? Most times we can actually see the situation going down hill even before it begins; But there’s always this little tiny part of our brains that says to us, maybe… just maybe it won’t be as bad as you think it would be; and while that’s true, sometimes your inner gut is right. That same gut you had as a toddler that made you so brave and decisive in doing what was best for you, we now somehow find a way to suppress it… and you know why? It’s because we’re so bothered about not offending people. We don’t want to offend people or be in conflict with anyone. We don’t want to disappoint anyone and so because of this, we say yes when we know, we should say NO.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t be considerate about people’s feelings. I’m not saying don’t compromise when possible, but never ever, EVER! do it at the expense of yourself.
Don’t go into a situation that you already know will be bad just because you can’t say NO and you don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. It is no news that we all want to feel accepted but ask yourself, at what cost? Think about it…
All that said, I’m actually a culprit of this same crime… I find it extremely difficult to say the word NO too but you know what? It’s time to think about Demi first… It’s time for you to think about you first!
Sometimes be selfish; Do what’s best for you because you can’t give what you don’t have to the ones you love. So if you’re not happy, you can’t make people happy. Energy begets Energy (The engineer in me talking ^_^).
… and before I go, I leave you with this quote by Tony Blair…
“The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.”
Demi Akin 