How saying 'Yes' to everything is letting yourself down.

I remember doing a poll on my Instagram stories and 98% of women who answered said they had or often do say yes to things they really don’t want to do! And why? Because they don’t want to let anyone down!

The ironic thing is though, when we do that - we let ourselves down! Somehow, over time we have learned or been conditioned to think that we are less important in our own lives than anyone else.

When we choose to live like that we welcome burnout, excess stress and even build resentments, which in turn means that the things we are reluctantly doing, don’t even truly serve the people we are doing them for.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the last 18 months was how to say no to things I didn’t have time/energy/capacity for. (I mean I’m sure we all learned a lot about ourselves in that time too eh?)

But being able to say “No” was a biggie for me, I mean It was scary at first, I worried I wouldn’t get those opportunities again or that I’d let people down but in actual fact, it strengthened my relationships and I got to focus on the things I LOVE that light a fire inside me.

When you have strong boundaries in place you give other people the opportunity to be confident in theirs and when you focus your attention on what you love to do you you create things that benefit the people in your life way more deeply than when you spread yourself so thin and live life in a permanent state of exhaustion and stress.

It’s been a lovely long summer, and Scotland got its share of hot weather for once, but that might mean you have felt extra pressure to do more and say yes more often, especially since that the restrictions are being eased and we’re no longer in lockdown - it is good to know that if we want to we can finally begin to say yes again to things that have been out with our reach… just remember you deserve to live your life for you and do the things that light a fire inside you!

If you’re reading this and struggling with how you saying no will benefit you and others, hold tight to the thought that “you can’t pour from an empty cup” and every time your gut tells you to say no - do it with that in mind.