The Power of Saying No in a World that Always Wants You to Say Yes!

Do you believe in ‘signs’ or ‘nudges’ from the Universe or a higher power?

Do you ever feel like you get stuck in the SAME or similar types of situations all the time?

Do you feel like you experience the same types of personal struggles or pain over and over and you perpetually ask yourself ‘How did I let this happen AGAIN?!’

If so, you are SO not alone! In fact, you're pretty normal! Most of our life’s ‘road blocks’ tend to center around issues we’ve struggled with since childhood. My mother always used to tell me, ‘You’ll be presented with the same problem or situation over and over again until you figure out how to move past it or grow from it’, and she was RIGHT!

One of my biggest struggles?? Saying ‘No’!

And I'm guessing if you're reading this it's one of your biggest struggles too! Lately the Universe has been not-so-subtly sending me messages about how I MUST incorporate saying no to more things, events, and people before I reach my inevitable ‘crash and burn’ mode. This is the Merry-Go-Round I've been unable to get off of most of my life, where I put almost everyone's needs and feelings before my own and I try to show up in any way I can because ‘it's the nice thing to do.’

And although it really may be the ‘nice thing to do’ I have to remember (and so do you) that every time you say ‘yes’ to something you are saying ‘no’ to something else.

This may not be a bad thing because maybe you are saying ‘yes’ to a workout and ‘no’ to lying on the couch binge-watching G.O. T. for 5 straight hours on a Saturday. Or maybe you are saying ‘yes’ to visiting a friend you really want to see and saying ‘no’ to alone time.

BUT- if you are stressed, depressed, anxious, exhausted, or just feeling ‘blah’, I'm willing to bet one of the MAJOR reasons is because you are saying ‘yes’ to everyone and everything else and FAR too often saying ‘no’ to yourself and your needs!!

Like I said, the Universe has been not-so-subtlety telling me I need to start saying no a bit more is several ways:

• I’m tired like, alllllll the time and have started having wavy lines/spotted vision and headaches
• It stresses me out to even LOOK at my calendar and everything I've committed to lately
• There’s not much (if any) ‘down time’ or ‘me time’ scheduled on my calendar
• I've come across several quotes from mentors/thought leaders I highly respect solely centered around power of saying ‘no’

(Okay okay Universe...I can hear you now!)

Two of these quotes are particularly awesome.

One Lewis Howes shared on his Instagram recently is:
‘You can be a good person with a kind heart and still say no.’

And the other one from Lisa Nichols’ brilliant book Abundance Now is:
‘Exercise the word ‘no’, and remember that it's a complete sentence.’

Damn. That's some powerful stuff right there. And so freakin’ true.

•It's ok to say no just because you want to say no.
•It's ok to say no because it's simply the right choice for you.
•It's ok to 100% unapologetically say yes to yourself. It's YOUR life. You need to stand up for you and be your #1 advocate...it's pretty much the only job you can't delegate.

In my next blog post I'm going to tell you how you can start gaining the confidence to say no, how to figure out WHAT to say no to, and how you can say no without feeling guilty (or at least start to minimize your guilt!)

So tell me in the comments below, do you struggle to say no? What do you struggle to say no to? Do you have a close friend or family member that struggles with saying no?

If so, SHARE this post with them and tell them to keep an eye out for my upcoming posts about the life changing ability to say 'no’ more so you can start to say YES to yourself! :) So stay tuned!

Love you guys! Mean it! <3