Sometimes it is not easy to know when to say “no”. Saying “yes” to everything without considering the consequences can lead to too many compromises and even conflicting priorities, to the detriment of ourselves and our health, including mental health.
Saying “no” is important as a way of setting boundaries, of preserving our privacy and space before others. It is also an expression of self-respect and consideration for our own needs.
Saying “yes” to evolve, to leave the everyday and to break with the obsolete.
Saying “yes” means being receptive and open, breaking down the walls we build around our freedom and letting the new, the different and the unexpected into our lives.
And that is fine, since we are used to living locked in more rigid ways of thinking, in old-fashioned beliefs that cause us dissatisfaction. We continue to maintain, sometimes, forms that perhaps were useful some time ago but, in today’s life, in constant movement and updating, they require readaptation, renovation and evolution.
As Daniel Ramos quotes in his book “Nunca es Tarde”: “When reality moves and we remain static, entrenched in what we know, our daily world becomes limited and reduced”.
However, it is important to know when it is convenient to “say yes”, and when it is not.
What does it mean to say “yes”?
The specialists in Psychology believe that learning to say “yes” means, in the majority of cases:
- To get out of the everyday.
- To be open to new things.
- Saying “yes” to life and its changes.
- Saying “yes” to new experiences.
- Say “yes” to growing as a person.
- Say “yes” to laugh.
- Saying “yes” to travel and learn about new cultures.
- A “yes” to taking care of and loving ourselves.
- A “yes” to helping others.
- Saying “yes” to understanding ourselves and others.
- Saying “yes” to change.
Saying “yes” to change and letting new experiences into our lives will always bring knowledge and benefits, from a Positive Psychology.