I recently heard this wonderful bit of advice when dealing with setting boundaries: “No” is a complete response.
For such a simple sentence, it’s quite a complex idea.
Most of us learn to be apologetic and always have a reason ready if we need to say no. We are taught not to be rude, and to let people down easy. It causes a lot of anguish coming up with an excuse for saying no.
Usually our polite excuses just get dismissed anyway, because well, frankly, they’re lame. All the while, this offering up an excuse for saying no keeps the focus of value on the other person’s feelings, with little regard for your own.
Your feelings matter too. Your boundaries matter. If you want to say no, just say no.
Fox Michaels is a Certified Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Practitioner from the Academy of Modern Applied Psychology. He is an intuitive leader with more than 15 years experience as a trainer. In his spare time, Fox writes the ongoing blog Like a Fox!, where he shares his fun, joyful approach to life and love, as his own way of contributing to the Human Potential Movement. When not reading from his library full of personal development books, you can find Fox enjoying the cinema perks of being on AMC’s A-List, and also working to make sure that he’s the most stylish man on his own Instagram page. Feel free to check out if he's succeeding with that @foxmichaels.
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