No is Not an Option
Today I wanted to give up. It was a crazy week of work, family dramas and a very intensive webinar schedule.
I thought I was handling it very well, despite all the stress and lack of sleep. My neck only hurt a little bit and I was kind of doing my practices. But today I found out I was wrong.
I had a webinar scheduled, got up early in preparation for it, went online on Zoom to talk to my people, and nothing. I expected at least 10-15 people, and there was no one.
I had all this energy and great content to share, and no one to share with. There was no family, friends, partner or other beloved’s, no one. Just crickets. I thought, no big deal, I can just practice. Yet my heart was heavy and I could feel the energy drain from me.
Then I started feeling sorry for myself and losing focus. It was a very bad moment, maybe a deciding moment.
When I look back, I realized that my Systema teacher’s words were bouncy in my head. “Don’t feel sorry for yourself!”
It was a whisper, and still it had the force of a slap on my face, waking me up.
Then I remembered, there’s still something I could do, that I wasn’t going to go out like that. One of my principles, values is never give up, no is not an option.
And suddenly I could see that I was about to do just that.
Then I casually looked at my phone, and saw a message from one of my friends asking how my webinar was going, was I still on?
I answered her a message, saying yes and no, letting her know what had happened. Being proactive, she suggested why not start again and just do it one on one, just to practice.
And that’s what we did, and you know what happened? Not only did we have an amazing time, another friend showed up, and I had one of the best webinars I’ve ever done.
So, here’s the point: no is not an option. When you persist, do what you came here to do, magic happens. Try it and you will see.