N...O...!

No!

Yes, I mean … No!

Sweet, Simple, Plain No!

How often have you found yourself saying anything and everything but NO!

Looking back, I see a lot of times I should just have said No! No extra explanations, shy yeses, consenting silences, just sweet, plain ol’ NO!

As a strong-willed child, I said No a lot. I mean, my dad said I started every sentence with NO. Even if I was going to agree with you, No would find its way in my response. Now a politically correct adult, I find myself not saying No enough! I want to say No more. I found that being agreeable is taken for granted and exploited by a lot of people. 

Remembering a quote I learnt as a child; “the gentility of a tiger does not symbolize its timidity”, simply put on the streets of Lagos, Oó pọ̀ ní ilẹ̀ bí Iyẹ̀pẹ̀! Never take a person's choice to be agreeable as an excuse to walk over them. While some may naturally be agreeable, others went through (or still undergoing) therapy to discover their soft side; you don't want to unleash the dragon.

Choosing when to say "Yes" or "No" is a fine art that should be mastered by all. Draw the line, create boundaries and respect others. Wondering if the shift unconsciously happened to most of us because we don’t want to be tagged uncooperative, stubborn, disagreeable, or self-involved. On the other side of the spectrum, there are people who evolve from being “YESers” to being strong NO-nay-sayers. 

The most important thing is not to lose you, to be kind to yourself & others and know when to say NO!

....xoxo...