My first word was “ball” or “no” I can’t remember. Either way, I know that I was a NO person from the start. It was my main vocabulary and I think to this day I have always enjoyed the slow and pronounced way that the word rolls off my tongue, “Nnnnnnnnoooooooo”. It is very flavorful and entertaining to say. I think it is also a little bit of an instant reaction. Someone says they like something and negative nelly me, says, “No” in a very satisfactory and matter of fact way. I mean business by saying “No.”
But what I am finding is that in my professional and adult world I have learned to say “Yes” more often than not. I think that this started working for my first big girl job with a man named Allan because he was a “Yes-Man.” Although, even beyond Allan, I have carried the tradition over of wanting to help and do good by all people… clients included. So, my “No” has become a very distinct, “Yes!” in almost all circumstances (really its just that I don’t want to miss out on any potential experience).
Two things have happened as a result from this: The first is that I am exhausted from all the things that I do now on a daily basis… again, I never want to say, “No” to an opportunity, so I am constantly scrambling around trying to make it work for my schedule and I have become a bit of a push over… a little too accommodating. The second thing that has happened, which is key, is that I have forgotten who I am and I am now having to real learn my life as a person from the “Yes” culture.
Now, thinking back as a child, I asked my parents if they can remember a time that I used the word “Yes” in any sentence? I feel as though I need to retrace my history and try to relearn the magical world of where I came from so I can rediscover my purpose in life. It was always to be a “No” person, I thought and to be self-directed and very conscious about my choices. But now in this new “Yes” culture I am finding that it is boundary-less and the possibilities are endless and undirected. I am just a feather blowing in the wind; sometimes it is a stronger wind I guess, but mostly I just float around.
And so I encourage each of you to join the pledge along with me to say, “Yes” to life and join into something new and bizarre that you never thought you would venture into.
You might have noticed that this post really doesn’t have a particular purpose, so like my new undirected lifestyle of the word, “Yes” this post is quite similar. No direction, no result, just the experience.