Saying “No”

I recently started a job that has caused many others to become burned out, and I don’t want that to happen to me. So, I have been making sure that I make time for my own self-care. I was given a self-care assessment worksheet from the American Counseling Association.

One area I saw I needed to improve on was “say “no” to extra responsibilities sometimes”. So, for the next two weeks I made a conscious effort to say “no” to extra responsibilities. That is easier said than done!

This made me think about how we change as we grow older. Think about it. When we are first learning to talk, what is one of our favorite words? I would venture to say that, for most young children, it is “no”. At this time in our lives we can say no without feeling any sense of guilt or responsibility. As we get older, we can start to feel responsible for things we have no control over or are not responsible for. Now, I find it very difficult to tell people “no” even when I have other things I was going to do. What changes between that early part of our lives and our early adulthood? I don’t know how we get to this point, but I do know that as we become aware of behaviors that are not healthy, we can change them.

With this new knowledge, I am going to think twice before I take on extra responsibilities. I will determine whether I have the capacity to do what is asked of me, and I won’t sacrifice my own well being.

How have you dealt with this in your life? What can you do to improve?