Two letters...an N and an O.

Today I learned how to say no.

No.

As in nadda.

And as in nope.

It only took me one meltdown to realize I had spread myself too thin. When you love life as much as I do, you want to do everything! Passing up one cool opportunity seems like a crime. But never passing up any opportunity means that eventually you become so stressed trying to juggle all of your "cool opportunities" that you don't get to enjoy any of them. And that's a crime.

So you decide to say No.

You take a deep breath, clench your fists, set your jaw, squint your eyes, prepare for the worst, and

say no.

And you wait.

You cautiously open one eye. Then the other. The world is still spinning and the birds are still singing. People still like you.

You let out your breath. You unclench your fists. You relax your jaw.

It's ok.

Actually, it's better than ok. Now you can enjoy loving life and love enjoying life! Saying NO is such a freeing thing. It hurts right at the moment, but in the long run it saves you from so much pain. Kinda like a vaccine, I guess.

So today I said no. And now I'm looking at all of the things that are still Yes-es in my life:

1) Yes, I can do my homework!
2) Yes, I can do my job well!
3) Yes, I can go to the Family Clinic every Friday!
4) Yes, I can go to Bible study on Monday nights with the girls!
5) Yes, I can go to the Christian Fellowship on Tuesday night!
6) Yes, I can sleep!
7) Yes, I can enjoy my friends!
8) Yes, I can have a life!

Yes. Yes is good. And so is NO.

Oh, one more thing: I picked up a lovely red leaf this afternoon. It's tacked to my bulletin board to remind me of the day I said no and the world kept spinning.