Sunday Share: 3/11/12

Ahhh, Life.

Often times, Life gets in the way of Living.

For example: I have all intentions to write my blog more than once a week, with plenty to share, but Life has gotten in the way.

What else is new?

Drew has been gone 15 days today, and I've lived the Golden Rule of the Deployment Life to its fullest:

Stay Busy.

Between work, extra-curricular work, volunteer work, working out, and workin' it! with my girls, Life is pretty jam-packed. But the fact that all of my activities listed include Work is completely intentional.

No matter what we all do, day in and day out, it involves effort, commitment, and... work. Whether it's to make a living, make a difference, or make memories, Life eats up a lot of time.

After my whine session on Friday, which resulted after I couldn't do something that I wanted to do with my time, I started to think about my priorities in Life.

And after a lot of your input, I remembered the importance of saying "NO."

After this light bulb went off, I remembered an excerpt I read a few years ago in Robin Mead's Book: Morning Sunshine! How to Radiate Confidence and Feel It Too! So, the scholar that I am (or pretend to be) dug out the book and looked back at what she had to say.

A few of you already know that I've got a major Girl Crush on Robin Meade. So anything that she may say, I'd probably believe with admiration. But I truly thought that this "lesson" hit close to home:

Do you allow yourself to be a doormat? Why is it that we feel the need to qualify the word no? Think about it. When someone asks you to head up the silent auction committee for the school fundraiser on behalf of the PTO, you might answer yes. Period. "Yes" is your complete answer. It needs no "because x, y, or z." But when you have to decline, most of us feel we have to give an excuse. I got it! I'll tell 'em my Aunt LuLu just got out of the hospital after gastric bypass surgery, and it's my turn to watch her lose weight!

Then we spend precious time fretting over how the excuse, lame or not, will be received.

My co-anchor on the Monday-through-Friday morning shift in Chicago used to say, "Robin, 'NO' is a complete sentence. You just need to say no." Here's why he would tell me that: I was honored to get numerous requests for public appearances around town. Everybody from big organizations to little neighborhood clubs would ask, "Could you emcee our event this Friday night?" or "Could you do the starting lineup for our little run on Saturday morning?" And I always said yes. I wanted to be liked, and I didn't value my own needs enough to say no.

As a result, I would be booked from Friday night to Sunday afternoon and never truly think about the impact on my marriage or my energy level. I couldn't say no to viewers, and I couldn't say no to people in the newsroom.

In other words, I didn't have the confidence it took to say no.

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My girlfriend, Robin, hit the nail on the head. We all need to remember to muster up the strength to say "NO." I've decided to commit at least one night a week to just ME. No phone calls to family or friends; no Facebook; no work or after-work commitments. So whether I want to catch up on episodes of Downton Abbey, or down a bottle of wine after finding some excuse to avoid the gym... I will.

I encourage you to do the same.

And, lastly, I apologize that my blog entries have been few and far between.

But, you know.. I had to say NO to something. :)