My name is Sydney, and I'm a yes-oholic.

I'm not quite sure if my parents simply raised me this way or if I am just such a hopeful opportunist that I believe I have time to do EVERYTHING that is thrown my way, but regardless of the cause, the outcome stays the same...I have a hard time saying no.

Being involved has always been extremely important, maybe even too important, to me. I began playing travel sports in fifth grade and started joining clubs by seventh. By the time I hit high school, I not only had to balance four sports within only three seasons of competition, but I also began seeing the importance of staying involved socially. By senior year I was on track to earn 12 varsity athletic letters, graduate as class president, serve on a scholarship committee, and work at a local restaurant all while trying to get recruited and find the university I was going to eventually over-extend myself at for the next four years. I thought I was busy then.

Now, as I am about to finish up the fall semester of my senior year of college, I have found that the only advantage to being a "Yes Man" is that I have made a lot of connections along the way. The downside to this advantage, however, is that the more people I meet, the more people who ask me for things because they know that I can't say no. With as often as I say yes and agree to participate in every opportunity that is thrown my way, one might assume that I might be under the impression that there are more than 24 hours in a day.

Beginning this summer, I really got out of control as I allowed myself to accumulate 6 jobs leading into the school year on top of being a full-time student as well as a student-athlete. One would think that eventually, I would just say no–but what do I get out of no other than an extra hour or two of sleep at night?

I say yes because I believe saying yes today will allow me to say no in the future. I say yes because I hate the thought of letting someone down. I say yes because, regardless of whether I am booked for 12 hours a day for the next three months, I know that no will lead to regret as it means missing out on opportunities that have the potential to be life changing.

I don't believe that I am ever going to stop saying yes completely, nor do I believe there will ever be a point in my life in which I completely stop overextending myself. What I do hope for is that I might eventually be able to learn to at the very least only say yes to things that keep my own best interest in mind.

To all of the yes-oholics out there, try giving yourself just one night a week. Put it in your calendar as busy and don't budge. If someone asks for your help or attendance during that one special time, just say no. Don't let anyone take that little victory away from you and don't ever budge because that one "me-night" per week is essential to keeping all of your other responsibilities in check. Small steps is all it will take to get you to a little less stressful life–just take it one no at a time.