You can politely and firmly say no to others’ requests for your time.

Does this describe you?  Your friends and acquaintances expect you to say yes to everything they want you to do.  You feel you don’t want to do it but you say yes anyway.  “No!” you want to shout, but you say yes with a smile anyway.  Then you feel angry with yourself and the other person too.

However, you never let the other person know your true feelings.

Did you know that your own needs and wants are just as important as anyone else’s?  Sure, it is good to help others, but you also need to help yourself maintain a healthy mental perspective by giving yourself the time you need to care for yourself.

A friend of mine never almost never says no to anyone.  She is divorced, has several children, a full time job, does volunteer work, and has many other responsibilities.  She struggles to say no and then feels frustrated with herself and the other person because she did not say no.  How can she say no to others politely and respectfully, without hurting the other person’s feelings?

She could simply say she has something else to do. Making no excuses or apologies, she can simply request that the person contact someone else to help and say that she has something else she is working on.  If the other person retorts that she has no other way to accomplish this task, my friend simply needs to firmly repeat her answer.

Yes, it is good to love others as ourselves but that does not mean we have to always give up our time to others every time someone asks us to.  We also need to take care of ourselves.  The fact remains that time is a valuable resource and you cannot get it back once you give it away.

Have a balanced life and be happy!  Say yes and help others when you feel you can, but say no and take care of yourself when you need to do that.

Be wise and say no to others when you need to take care of yourself.

Let the encouraging words in these near a river posts help you

soar like an eagle above life’s storms.

A key to having successful relationships of all types.

Yes, there are many miracles within you!

What are your TRUE COLORS?

Let’s turn the page!

If you enjoyed this post, remember that BJ writes for children.

Her encouraging children’s eagle

Near a River common core reading book

is available on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com.

Buy BJ’s Near a River encouraging eagle reading book

for children you care about today!