Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Just Say No

Today's guest blogger is Kelly from Kellyology. I met Kelly when she interviewed me for The Great Interview Experiment. Enjoy!

**********

So when Kim asked me to do a guest post while she was gone I thought awesome! No problem! I’ll just whip this out in a matter of minutes. For when has Kelly ever been at a loss for words?

Then life took over and I got this friendly “reminder” from Kim this week saying, “Yo! Where the heck is my post you said you’d write Be-atch?” (OK. She really didn’t say that. It’s what you call dramatic effect. Like it?) And really, I intended to get this to her long, long ago. But I’ve been spending all of my extra time working on a few volunteer projects, which have really taught me the important life lesson of “Just Say No.”

Just say no.

Just say no when your friend calls you from a high school reunion meeting and flatters you with, “I knew that if anybody could do a great video, you could!”

Just say no when your husband says to you, “Can you take over dealing with the contractors. I’m just so busy with this job change.”

Just say no when your friend turns to you at a cheer meeting and says, “I can’t coach alone. You have to help. I promise. It won’t be that much work.”

Just say no when another friend from high school says to you, “Hey. Can you help with the picnic? I need some bodies.”

Just say no when your husband says, “Hey. I’m losing the company car because I turned down the one job that would finally get you out of this God forsaken town. So, can you go test drive everything under the sun and pick something that is a complete downgrade from what you’re used to driving because I’m giving up half my salary, (so that I can stay in this God forsaken town) and we have nooooooo money?) ”

OK, OK. I really didn’t have a choice with that last one.

And really now I’m off topic and have gotten to the point of pure griping.

Where was I?

Oh yeah.

Just say no.

Yeah, Nancy Reagan really didn’t realize the power she was giving us when she coined that phrase. Sure she was talking about drugs. But couldn’t we ladies steal it, and use it for a much better purpose? You know, use it to maintain our sanity?

Sound good to you?

It sounds really good to me.

“NO!”

Now that’s better.

And now I can get back to doing things I really enjoy...like writing, and blogging, and guest posting.

7 comments:

Jill of All Trades said...

I learned the "Just Say No" a few years ago and I got my life back!

Anonymous said...

I'm w/ Jill..once I figured it out..that I COULD say NO...WoW..I could read a book, watch TV, get housework done, it was amazing!

Kelli said...

Oh dear. I am single, no kids, and STILL have too much to do and never say no.

I really need to work on staying it more often. Really. At 28 I'm already spread too thin.

Suzy said...

A small word, but a very important word.

Setting boundaries. That's what it's all about.


Suzy

Anonymous said...

No is such a hard little word to master, and it takes a lot effort to not fall back into the habit of saying yes to everything!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that NO word is one of my favorites, but it's gotten me on someone's shit list. Oh well. Can't have it all in life.

Jeannette E. Spaghetti said...

I've learned to say no, but I can't resist the temptation to volunteer, even when I'm pressed for time.