It’s took me a while to learn how to say this word; I’m much more of a ‘yes’ person. I used to think if you don’t say yes to anything then you will never gain experiences or discover things you never thought you would be able to do. I do still believe this to be true, otherwise I wouldn’t have flew a plane, participated in writing competitions, or even tried an intern job that was solely irrelevant to my degree. I do find however that saying yes to new opportunities is a lot different than saying yes to people. Again I did used to do this a lot. If I had loads of work to do but someone wanted me to work or to go out with them, I would say yes.
It was only until last Sunday that I thought to myself,’no. Not this time.’ I was asked to help out which I am always happy to do, however when left on my own I discovered that others were expecting me to do more than was expected of me. Instead of helping a friend out, I was doing three jobs instead of one whilst trying to still help my friend out. It was then that I realised that my friend didn’t even expect me to do three jobs, it was others just pushing me because of my good nature. It is this particular point that I decided that no needs to be an option in my vocabulary. I understand that others may not be glad that I’m being more assertive but it’s because it is the truth. I don’t say no just to be awkward or a nuisance, it’s because I genuinely need a break. It’s as simple as that.
I understand that it will be hard for me to say no to people that I care about but if it means that it will result in a happier me, then so be it.