(a couple of my fav pics from a couple summers ago in my home state of sunny california. these photos were taken by one of my high school friends, monica, at studiokyk.com, who is a beautiful photographer)
one day i realized that it is ok to say no. ok to say no to all the "extras" in life that in my heart i truly didn't want to do. i was feeling a little overwhelmed with day to day life and not having much time at home as a family. it seems that there was always something going on. my husband has a busy job with lots of meetings and he had something to attend almost every night of the week. i was simply exhausted and feeling like there was no way around our current situation.
one day i was talking with one of my favorite friends, who told me that she didn't do all of the "extras". no jewelry, candle, or home decor parties, no dinners out, etc. i was so impressed with her ability to say no. saying no sounds so simple, but for some reason it was so hard for me. both my husband and i were feeling the same about it all and we decided to cut back. he finished out the season on the little league board and resigned and he also had someone at work take over one of the boards he was on. i started saying no to the extras that i didn't want to do. wow what a liberating feeling. it was so amazing that him giving up two things and me being selective on the extras i chose to do really made a huge difference in our lives. now if i could have a house cleaner so i could free up more time on the weekends=) saying "no" is so easy now and i have no guilt attached.
Ahh...yes! So important. I look at saying "no" to things i don't really want to do as saying "yes" to myself. And when i say yes to myself i can be so much more present for all the parts of my life.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this, Kelley--such a good reminder.