Last week Ricky was asking me and Chris for an idea for our "Positive Word of the Week" board as we were walking out the door…and Chris said, “Yes.” Chris’ intention was to say “Yes” like I’ll think about a word but then Ricky said ok, “Yes” and Chris said…oh, ok…YES…that’s a perfect word. I loved it, but funny thing is that “YES” is way more of an Andrea word than a Chris word. I feel like saying YES when I’ve see a door is open, has resulted in lots of fun adventures, long lasting relationships and great times!! Saying YES is how I ended up buying BL. It is the reason my husband and I purchased 4 wheelers. It is how I ended up on stage with Kid Rock, in a country music video, and resulted in me sky diving. It is why I embark on a myriad of girlfriend trips and allowed me to hike the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Zion, Pictured Rocks…just to name a few. Because I almost always say YES, I end up with plans pretty much EVERY night. My friends say I have FOMO…Fear Of Missing Out. Maybe so, but I prefer to look at it like I’m simply enjoying life to its fullest…
Now, when I walked into BL a few days later and asked Brie if she saw that the Positive Word of the Week was “YES” her response was…”can next week’s word be NO?”. Of course I said NO, but then she proceeded to tell me how the word NO has become important to her in her life. She shared that for her, learning to say NO has helped her to set boundaries and reserve space for her downtime. As much as her mother has FOMO, Brie has JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out). So it won’t surprise you that when I asked her to write about saying NO as part of my antics, she said “NO!!”
So I moved on to Chris…Now, Chris is going to say she’s on the NO team but let me just point out that every adventure I listed above was with Chris by my side. She said yes to becoming my business partner at BL, she introduced me to 4 wheeling, she was on stage with me for Kid Rock and the country music video as well as jumping out of the airplane. All those hikes included her and most of the girlfriend get-a-ways involved her as well. BUT in her words, although she says YES to a lot, she likes reserving the word NO as a way to help discriminate between what she really wants to do and what she wants to avoid being “YES’d” into. In fact, whenever anyone asks Chris for plans, her answer will be, I’ll give you 80%. Meaning that she will give you an 80% chance that she will show up but always reserves that last 20% in case she “gets a better offer” or wants to say NO. Oh and by the way, when I asked her to write this part of the antics, she of course said NO as well!!
So all this being said…I’m sure it’s very apparent that we need both YES’s and NO’s in our lives. Jamie walked into the office while Chris and I were discussing this and I asked her if she was a YES or NO person and she immediately said of course YES. But then after further discussion, she jumped over to seeing Brie and Chris’ perspective and added but, “NO is not Negative”
So where are you in this continuum??
Do you always say YES and then feel burnt out or overcommitted? Do you need a few more NO’s to reclaim some downtime?
Or Do you always say NO and feel like life has gotten a little dull. Do you need a few more YES’s in your life to reclaim a bit more spontaneity and sense of adventure.
YES or NO? PUSHER or COASTER? YANG or YIN? LIGHT or DARK? EFFORT or EASE?
There are a lot of ways to describe these two extremes but the bottom line is that balance in our lives comes from finding that sweet spot between too much and too little. A place that is “sufficiently interesting” and unique to each person. We practice this concept on our yoga mats and refer to it as our EDGE!! This week’s word was YES…and in all fairness, I approved next week’s word to be NO!!
Let’s continue this conversation in the Link and continue striving for this balance on and off our mats!!
YES or NO? Hmmm….
