Saying Yes

Sometimes you gotta say yes!

At the beginning of August I wrote a post about learning to say no to save your sanity (see it here: http://humanisthappiness.blogspot.com/2012/08/just-say-no.html) Given that I am a big fan of saying no, why on earth am I writing a post about saying yes?

I’m glad you asked.  The say no post was actually about learning how to find balance in your life between your competing responsibilities. You need to balance your needs, against the needs of your family and the needs of your society.  But just because you need to take care of yourself first doesn’t mean you should always say no.

You do have a responsibility to others.  I say yes to a very inconvenient request in August. A woman called me on a Friday night asking if I could officiate her father’s funeral the next day. I had plans for the weekend.  But I still said yes.

Why? Because her need was greater than mine. She was in grief and in a panic because she had spent several days trying to find a non-religious person to give the service and had failed. No one should have to go through what she did while they are grieving.  My husband and my son gave me permission to leave them for the day to take care of a complete stranger. They understood. Her need for my time was greater than theirs.

I need to add that I have never done a funeral before, and I am not trained as a celebrant and so I was scared that I would do her father justice and help her. I helped her anyway. Her need was greater than my fear.

And in the end, it is when we are giving of ourselves to others to help ease their pain that we feel the most alive. When you are striving for balance, don’t use the need to find balance to become selfish. Sometimes you need to say yes, even though the thought of saying yes scares you, say yes.

Image: "Yes And No Buttons" by digitalart http://www.freedigitalphotos.net