Have you heard that people close to death regret what they DIDN’T do more than any mistakes they made? If so, the common feeling from this is “say yes!” or “do the thing!” Let’s focus on the power of saying NO to make room for the yes to occur. Many people regret not making courageous moves in their relationships, vocation, and leisure. But saying yes to uncomfortable, courageous decisions includes many no’s to other mediocre options along the way that aren’t quite “it.” Because true decision means cutting away from other possibilities. In other words, the root cause of regrets later in life involve more than just missing out on the courageous “yes.” They include a series of decisions where one says “yes” when it should have been “no.”
Another powerful outcome of saying no, especially to fulfilling others’ expectations that don’t align with us, is health and sickness. In this video, a palliative care doctor speaks anecdotally about how people who don’t say no find themselves sick…. Because eventually the body says no for them.
Remember the power of saying no to the options that seem fine or okay in the moment. It leaves space open to say yes to what we truly desire.
Photo credit: James Wheeler from Pexels
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