I’m typing this while sitting on the train home from a meeting I had in the city. It’s been a busy, productive but great day and it’s looking to get even better. I love when that happens. And honestly after some rough days (in terms of absolutely extreme exhaustion), it was nice to feel like I actually beat the day instead of letting the day beat me.
Earlier this week I came to a revelation. As I took another rest day to try and relax my body (and hopefully get more sleep at night), I realized I’m not someone who is good at saying no and therefore will take on more than I should.
I want to help my fellow friends & bloggers who are busy, so I offer to do a guest post.
I want to grow my blog, so I agree to additional opportunities to share my story with others.
I love my job and want to prove myself so I’m connected to my phone 24/7 – just ask my poor friends.
This is only the start. And not that they’re all bad things but at some point we have to cut ourselves off and know we might be taking on too much. We have to admit that it might be best to say “no” or even “not now” and then try for the opportunity at a later time.
When we over work ourselves, we exhaust ourselves – whether it be in terms of our lives, career, fitness or what have you. Learning to say no is a hard thing to do but it’s necessary for our survival.
This week I turned down an opportunity that may help me grow my blog but more than that, it was an opportunity to share my story with others in a fun way. I was looking forward to it but I found myself stressing at the mere thought of emailing back my contact. The time commitment was small but for right now was still too much. I’m fighting my desire to post everyday and working to remove that pressure from myself on the days that I can’t. It’s an on going battle so for now, I emailed him and said “I am interested but right now is not a good time. I hope we can do this in the future.”
If he understands, then great. If he doesn’t, it’s not an opportunity I should be involved with in the first place.
How do you work on saying no?
I’m pretty selfish with my time. I’m pretty good at saying no … maybe too much so 🙂 Well, my kidlets have a way (or so hubby says).
Sometimes I would like to be more selfish with my time…it hasn’t been working out that way lately.
ahhhhh girl <3 yes we all need to learn that saying no is ok. i definitely struggle with this too! it's great you realized it though 🙂
The first step is to admit there’s a problem, right? 😉
I said no to my swim workout this morning. I’ve been super stressed at work this week, and just couldn’t justify leaving the house at 4:50 am to swim. But just because I’m skipping that workout doesn’t mean I’m throwing the day away, I took the time this morning to get 2 water bottles ready, so I’m at least getting back into the routine of hydrating!
Sometimes that’s just what we need – good for you!