Letting the word "No" roll off my lupus tongue.
Believe it or not, this was a post that I was going to do back in October. I never got around to it, probably because October 2011 was a very busy month. Probably one of the busiest I've had in years. We had two birthdays to celebrate, a party to plan for and execute, overnight guests on 3 separate weekends, and two pillbags to design. Not to mention a slew of doctor's appointments, conference calls, and the like. But as things began to pile up, I made a distinct departure from the ways of the old Sara - the one who would have insisted on home cooked meals for all guests, would have had the house decked out from head to toe for the party, and the one who would have had cute coordinating outfits for everyone (including Darwin) for the entire month of events.
But not this time. Instead of continuing to stack on the to-do's - psyching myself up, and personally obligating myself to make things absolutely positively perfect, I just let some things go. I realized at the beginning of the month that I wasn't going to get it all done the way I would have liked, so you know what I said?
"Okay."
"Okay????"
I've never just said, "Okay" to the concept of letting things go. But here I was, willingly and of my own volition saying to myself, "nope...not going to happen." It was refreshing not to give myself an automatic guilt trip. It felt good to set limitations and not regret doing so. I liked how it made me feel to manage my life so that it was...well...manageable.
So when I sat down to write a post for today about saying "no", I realized I'd already touched on this subject before...I just hadn't published the post. So here's my latest triumph in letting the word "no" roll off my tongue:
Last week, I made a phone call to a potential retail store who has expressed interest in carrying my pillbags. I've been trying for weeks to get an appointment - but either the buyer was out of town, the floor designer was on vacation, or both. So when the designer answered the phone, mentioned that both decision makers would be in the store that day until 3pm, I almost bit. It was a little before 2pm...and the store was right around the corner.
But so was my nap.
And so, without missing a beat, I said, "Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to make it over there today..." but offered up a slew of other options. Good news is that we've found time this week to meet...and the best news is that it's not going to conflict with my nap.
A reminder to keep my health at the forefront and pace myself came, most recently, from my fabulous and oh-so-famous patent attorney at Cloudigy Law - who said this: choose wisely when it comes to scheduling events and making commitments as I launch my bags. There's no reason to sacrifice my health for my bags, which are actually designed to make life with a chronic illness more manageable, right?
So in the end, the word "no" really IS starting to roll of my tongue. Fingers crossed it's downhill from here!
But not this time. Instead of continuing to stack on the to-do's - psyching myself up, and personally obligating myself to make things absolutely positively perfect, I just let some things go. I realized at the beginning of the month that I wasn't going to get it all done the way I would have liked, so you know what I said?
"Okay."
"Okay????"
I've never just said, "Okay" to the concept of letting things go. But here I was, willingly and of my own volition saying to myself, "nope...not going to happen." It was refreshing not to give myself an automatic guilt trip. It felt good to set limitations and not regret doing so. I liked how it made me feel to manage my life so that it was...well...manageable.
So when I sat down to write a post for today about saying "no", I realized I'd already touched on this subject before...I just hadn't published the post. So here's my latest triumph in letting the word "no" roll off my tongue:
Last week, I made a phone call to a potential retail store who has expressed interest in carrying my pillbags. I've been trying for weeks to get an appointment - but either the buyer was out of town, the floor designer was on vacation, or both. So when the designer answered the phone, mentioned that both decision makers would be in the store that day until 3pm, I almost bit. It was a little before 2pm...and the store was right around the corner.
But so was my nap.
And so, without missing a beat, I said, "Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to make it over there today..." but offered up a slew of other options. Good news is that we've found time this week to meet...and the best news is that it's not going to conflict with my nap.
A reminder to keep my health at the forefront and pace myself came, most recently, from my fabulous and oh-so-famous patent attorney at Cloudigy Law - who said this: choose wisely when it comes to scheduling events and making commitments as I launch my bags. There's no reason to sacrifice my health for my bags, which are actually designed to make life with a chronic illness more manageable, right?
So in the end, the word "no" really IS starting to roll of my tongue. Fingers crossed it's downhill from here!
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