Chit Chat: Saying Yes More Often

I am not an adventurous person. I like comfort. I like routine. I like familarity. I have always been a person who shy away from the unknown.

Over the last year or so I have been pushing myself to say yes more often. Yes to meeting new people. Yes to different opportunities. Yes to going new places. Yes to invitations. Yes to trying something I haven't before.

Although I am trying there is no denying that saying yes is hard. Taking chances is difficult and risking failure is scary. No, however, is safe. There is no risk involved in saying no and there is not change required. Saying no always you to stay safely within the safe corners of your comfort zone.

Something that has surprised me over the last year is that now instead of having most of my evenings and weekends totally void of plans or consumed by work I am constantly in the process of making plans and I usually have a busy social calendar. I have found that saying yes to opportunities that force me a little out of my comfort zone are some of the best decisions I could ever make.

Yeses take work, require effort, and force you to take action. But they are worth it and saying yes does get easier with practice. Now I realize that each time I say no I am missing an opportunity to meet someone new, to learn something I didn't know, to feeling something different, to discovering something about myself, and to opening new doors.

Looking back some of the best things that have happened to me and some of my fondest memories are the result of having said yes. Everything I have said yes to certainly has not worked out perfectly but I certainly had more fun, gained more confidence, and have felt more empowered as a result.

Have you said yes to anything new lately?

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