Heart-Talk

NO!

I am a sucker for saying yes.

Sometimes I even find myself thinking "no, no, no, no" and then I blurt out "yes."

Why is it so difficult to say the word "no"? It's just a word, right?

After feeling trapped for some time by my excessive urge to be agreeable, it got me thinking.

I asked myself why it was so important for me to please everyone, to the point that I would feel resentful and stressed because of it.

I realized I was afraid of saying no because my biggest fear is rejection. I was afraid that every time I did this, I would disappoint someone, make them angry, hurt their feelings, or appear unkind or rude.

Having people think negatively of me is the ultimate rejection. Whether they say what they think of me, out loud or not, does not matter to me. It is the thought that they look down on me.

And so I realized exactly why I found it so difficult to say no.

I realize this is not just a challenge that I face, but one that many people go through every day. It's a heavy burden to carry because with the urge to say yes also comes a lack of self-confidence and self-value.

Saying no doesn't mean that you are being rude, selfish, or unkind. These are all unhelpful beliefs that make it hard to say no.

Did you ever wonder why it was so easy to say no when you were a little kid and why it has become so difficult now? What happened?

Well, as a child, we learned that saying no was impolite or inappropriate. If you said no to your mum, dad, teacher, uncle, grandparents, and so on, you were most certainly considered to be being rude, and you would have probably been told off for it.Saying no was off limits, and yes was the polite and likable thing to say. Now that we are all adults, we are more mature and capable of making our own choices, as well as knowing the difference between wrong and right. Therefore, no shouldn't be an off limits word, but rather something that we decide on ourselves, based on our own discretion.

But sadly, we hold onto our childhood beliefs and we continue to associate no with being dislikeable, bad mannered, unkind, or selfish. We worry that if we say no, we will feel humiliated, guilty, or ashamed, and will end up being alone, rejected, or abandoned.

SaimaBaloch15/04/16