Saying no
Read time: 4 minutes
The idea of cognitive overload is more and more prominent in our daily lives.
No’s are a given in life.
Why should we say no?
We can do anything, but we cannot do everything.
The thing is, however much we would want, there are simply more “opportunities”, than there are things we can do.
There is just too much to do.
We simply do not have the resources (money, energy, freedom) and especially time to be doing everything we want to be doing.
Saying “no” is not optional… It is mandatory to be leading a life that is right to us.
We need to reject things from our lives so that we can allow more of the things that are important for us.
It is our responsibility and our alone to stay true to who we want to become and to stay on the path that will get us to the place we want to get to in life.
How should we say no?
I do not have a definitive guide on saying no, but my only definite advice would be this:
Do not make excuses, reject beforehand.
It is much worse to get to the point of having accepted something and realizing you simply do not want to do it, than to say no before any amount of resources or preparation has happened.
Do not forget to be respectful in your saying “no”.
It is your priorities who are not fitting; it is not the person attacking you.
When do we know we should say no?
Even the absolute best type of opportunity in your field, if it were to happen for too long would lead to it not being appealing / being a bad idea for you.
We have different seasons in life.
Sometimes we have to push ourselves to the limit, we have to go as hard as possible after what we want, while other times, we have to just rest and decompress.
None is better or worse than the other is.
It is a matter of where we find ourselves in our own paths, where we want to go from here and what we deeply need to get there.
Saying no should be a matter of pure choice; it should be a matter of what is more important and most useful to us.
Saying no is not about saying no, it’s about what we allow ourselves to say yes to.
Photo credits:
Photo by Isaiah Rustad on Unsplash
Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash
Photo by Eric Rothermel on Unsplash