Written by Edgar Luna

So it is one of those days where you feel tired or not motivated to do something and you just want to rest and be by yourself. Then someone comes along and invites or asks you to go somewhere or do something you really don’t want to do.

How do you respond?

Most of the people I know, out of courtesy would say, yes and accept the invitation.

However, why do you say yes, when it’s something you really don’t want to do?

Maybe you will say yes because you don’t want to be rude or don’t want people to think that you are boring or weird, because you do not want to do that certain thing.

Well, what happens when you go against what you want or feel to do, and say yes , when you really wanted to say No?

How do you feel?

Maybe stressed, you get in a bad mood, mad, uncomfortable, and many more negative feelings might come out.

Those feelings are negative because you are not being true to yourself and honoring the fact that you really wanted to say No, and you are going against your true feelings.

Saying No is not a bad thing, it’s actually very liberating and can be a tool to live happier.

In our current society people that are very busy might be viewed as successful, a sign of people who are go-getters and always are willing to say yes to everything when maybe they don’t want to.

However the act of always saying yes, even when you don’t want to, comes at a price and might be exhausting if you don’t know how to say No. Even the most state of the art machines need to shut down for maintenance every once and a while and the fact is that you are not a machine.

Learn how to say No when you mean it, and you will find that you will be much happier.

Of course you need to communicate the No in a respectful way but make your point clear that at that moment your answer is No.

There might be situations when it’s not so clear if you want to say Yes or No and maybe you go ahead say yes, don’t worry you can take that small risk and you can change your mind and learn from it.

But when you really do not want to do something just say No. You will find that people will respect you when you are being your true self even if you say No once in a while.

E.Luna