I’ve always found saying ‘no’ a bit of a challenge. I used to fall into the category of ‘ask a busy person to do something and they will usually say yes’. So my diary was usually full…of things other people wanted me to do.
Of course, in hindsight I realised that on many of these occasions I was saying ‘no’…to myself and to what I really wanted.
So I then went to the other extreme, saying no to everything in order to keep my diary clear and have time to be me and be free to do what I wanted, when I wanted.
So one of my intentions over the last year has been to aim for a harmonious balance – a diary that has a good balance of work, social and free time…and this was tested on New Years Day…
My very good friend had invited me to lunch on New Years Day and I was tempted to say no… to keep my diary free for tending to work, family, pets, house etc and also because I didn’t know anyone else who was going (yes, despite all my NLP training, I can sometimes still feel a little shy/awkward in social settings).
But seeing as one of this year’s intentions is to have more ‘fun and laughter’, and because my diary was already well balanced, I parked both my fears and my ‘to do’ list and said ‘yes’…
And funnily enough…I had the most amazing and hilarious afternoon, packed with fun and laughter, and further enhanced by great food and wonderful company…I even made some new friends!
So in line with my aims for 2016, I will be re-evaluating my reasons for saying ‘no’ in future and I’ll be saying YES more often…to myself, to others, to harmonious balance and to more fun and laughter. The ‘to do’ list can wait another day.