Just say NO.
The woman took a quick peak at her hair as she rushed out of the bathroom. As usual, she would apply her make-up in the car.
“Shoes,” she cried out automatically.
“Everybody needs shoes.”
She glanced into the kitchen to see her husband buttering the toast they would eat on the road. “C’mon guys,” she pleaded. “I need you dressed and out the door, right now. We’re late.”
The two small children marched down the hallway in various stages of undress. “Honey, can you pick up little Sarah?” the woman asked. “I have a committee meeting at 3 P.M.”
“Sorry,” he answered. “I have wall to wall clients all afternoon until 6 P.M.” He handed her the jelly sandwiches and pecked her cheek. “Can your Mom do it?” he continued. “I can take charge of dinner. Don’t you have a PTA shindig tonight?”
“Oh, gosh,” she replied, exasperated. “I’d forgotten about it.”
“I have to re-schedule date night,” the man said apologetically. “It was the only space that worked for a board meeting. How does Thursday look?” The woman shook her head.
“No can do,” she sighed. “That’s Sally’s surprise party and I’m in charge of refreshments. You need to be there, by the way.” “What about Friday?”
The woman shook her head again. “No help available. I already tried because we discussed attending the music centre opening.”
“I guess we can take the kids to a movie and have a family date,” the man said, forcing a smile.
“Let’s talk about it later,” she replied. “Gotta’ go.”
Sound familiar?
We rush from activity to activity, maxing out our calendar, with everything from charitable events, to social functions, to children’s sports, to any number of extra-curricular and volunteer responsibilities.
Unfortunately, we pay a price—sometimes a big price.
Over-filled day planners keep us so busy that the passage of time happens undetected. We wake up periodically to the realization that another month, another quarter, another year has slipped by almost unnoticed.
Kids grow, work has its ups and downs, we try our best to contribute to the community—what else can we do, right?
Wrong.
We can learn to say “NO.”
We can take that iPhone, Android or Day-At-A-Glance and strike large Xs, at least two or three each week and weekend, and train ourselves to honour them.
When asked to attend yet another whatever, just say “NO.”
Don’t overcomplicate this. Like anything, we need to build the muscle.
At the end of the day, we can have reasons or we can have results. We can have reasons why our children suddenly turned into teenagers—we had to run a busy-ness. We can have reasons why we lost that intimate connection with spouse, sibling, life-long buddy, fill in the blank.
We can justify, explain, and reason away a decade.
Or we can choose results.
Real results.
Happy kids, wonderful relationships, great friends.
You don’t have to sit on every panel, join every local campaign, or earn a reputation as the perpetual go-to gal or guy.
No one is that important—except maybe your children and your partner at home.
Just say “NO.”
Author ~ Unknown
Thought for TODAY:
“You just have to do your own thing, no matter what anyone says. It’s your life.” ~ Ethan Embry
Quote:
“A blind bloke walks into a shop with a guide dog. He picks the Dog up and starts swinging it around his head. Alarmed, a shop assistant calls out: ‘Can I help, sir?’ ‘No thanks,’ says the blind bloke. ‘ Just looking.”
~ Tommy Cooper