For a big part of my life, I would say YES when I should have said NO.
I got married that way, I chose my education that way, I let others hurt my feelings that way and I took my own time away from myself that way.
All along I thought of myself as strong and a team player.
What I found out experience after experience is that if I do not take care of myself, I ultimately was unable to extend to myself, the “true” me to myself or to others.
It is not about not caring and I associated saying NO with not caring.
In truth, IT IS caring.

When we care for ourselves, only then can we know the value of caring for others and do it from our heart rather than fear of not being loved or cared about or for.
We are only here for a short time of our lives and our time is our greatest asset.
If we learned anything in this downtime, no matter how long you had downtime, our world stopped and we found many things to do with our time that we would not have ever gotten to in the duration of our lives just because chasing our tails was par for the course.

Now that we know our time can make a difference in our lives and those lives we can reach and touch, how we spend our time defines us.
When we learn to say NO, it gives YES a whole new meaning.
Knowing what is ours and what is not helps our decision making process sort things out.
Doing what we choose, allows us to do it well, and define to ourselves what is ours and what is not.
Saying NO to the wrong food, places, or things is empowering.

Listening to our instincts becomes vital to who we invite into our lives and gives us a compass.
We need self-guidance and it all starts with how we are privately from ourselves to ourselves.
Learning to say NO, MEANS WE CARE.
And the people and things we choose to say YES to will benefit from our decisions.
God Bless.

Nadia Khalil