Sometimes We MUST Say NO
Life is a Delicate Balancing Act!
Is this you?
To be an excellent writer, sometimes we need to say YES and sometimes we need to say NO.
We must learn to say YES to ourselves and the craft we are trying to perfect. We also must learn to say NO to those things which distract us from the goals we set for ourselves.
Most of us have a problem saying NO to the requests and demands which bombard us daily. One wise writer wondered: Toddlers say NO quite easily, I wonder why we don’t use NO more often?
Learn to Say NO to the Tyranny of the Urgent
We’ve all experienced it! The tyranny of the urgent can be as simple as your phone ringing all day and all night.
Interruptions to your life can also come in the form of texts arriving non-stop while:
driving home from work
cooking dinner
eating dinner with your family
spending quality time with your child
trying to sleep
and WRITING
Please pause to think through what is happening in your day.
Our device-oriented society point to the fact that interruptions are now a part of our culture. We used to experience an interruption with a knock at the door from a neighbor, now it is people and even robots calling to interrupt what you want to be doing. Although we may not have visitors at our door, our inboxes are crammed full and overflowing, calling for our attention.
Prayerfully consider the importance of EACH interruption and then you can decide whether to allow it.
Long ago, when my daughter was small and I was attempting to write a newsletter, I was becoming frustrated at her interruptions. I could hear clearly God’s voice in my heart, “Interruptions ARE your work!” From then on, I learned to do the following:
Control the interruption.
You know how to do this. For example, put your device on mute until after you have accomplished what you want to do that day or that minute. Put a peep hole in your door and refuse to answer it unless you know who is coming to visit.
If a child continually interrupts you, find a diversion for them until you have completed your task. Children may enjoy playing ‘office’.
YOU be in control of your life, not allowing devices or other people to control you or your time.
Eliminate the interruption.
Don’t answer the door, don’t answer your phone, don’t text. You can get back to them…or not.
We must keep our lives as streamlined as possible because it is a busy world. Your time and energy are of utmost importance and need to be guarded.
We MUST learn to say NO
“And all his busy rushing ends in NOTHING.”
Psalm 39:6
The Danger of Not Saying NO
As we all know, stress takes its toll physically, spiritually and emotionally by sapping our energy — one of our most precious resources. As humans, we have only so much energy. When demands on our energy surpass the amount of energy we have, we suffer!
The refusal to say NO creates stress !
The terms ‘stress’ and ‘burnout’ were relatively unknown in our parents’ or grandparents’ times. Today, however, we have many more choices than in the past. When we don’t say NO, we become overwhelmed by doing too much and by having too much.
As we increase in age from 20 to 80, we feel a decrease in physical energy even though our psychological, intellectual and spiritual energy may continue to abound. If we, however, squander one type of energy, then energy across the span is affected. The result? We become stressed out and then burned out. We no longer enjoy life.
Have you ever visited the Land of Burnout? I did once and ever thereafter guard against going there again! It was a dark time. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I can remember thinking, “I’m hanging on by a thread!” I was doing all of the right things at home and at work — going above and beyond. Nothing I did helped — the stress of my life was still there and building.
This article may help:
Burnout doesn’t suddenly happen. It happens as a result of too much stress over too long a period of time. It is a gradual wearing away of time and energy . What is the result? Life looks flat and uninteresting. There is no joy, even in the things you may have always enjoyed doing. You end up just going through the motions.
It’s an easy solution: Learn to Say NO!
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