You don’t owe anyone an explanation.

I have noticed that this is a problem amongst women - you feel as though you have to offer someone an explanation when you don’t want to do something. We’ve all been there. Your friend wants you to go out. Your partner wants to be intimate. Your parents want you to go somewhere with them.

You are not obligated to offer anyone an explanation. Why? Because if you don’t want to do something, that is enough of a reason.

This is something that I have struggled with for years. In high school, I would come up with some elaborate excuse as to why I couldn’t do something because I simply didn’t want to. “I have a headache.” “I have a prior obligation.” “I am swamped with homework.”

Sound familiar?

Granted, these were very real excuses as to why I couldn’t do things on occasion, but I remember being invited to go somewhere or do something that I didn’t really want to do. I felt as though I owed people an excuse.

Sometimes, I simply just didn’t want to do something.

After a long school week filled with tests, papers, homework, practices, and work, sometimes I just didn’t want to do anything. Sometimes I just didn’t want to spend the money and waste 2 hours to go see a movie I really didn’t want to see. Sometimes I just didn’t want to go to that party.

“I don’t want to” is a perfectly acceptable excuse for not doing something. You can use it whenever you see fit. If you’re invited somewhere you really don’t want to go, simply say “I don’t want to.” If you’re invited to do something that you don’t want to spend the money on, just say that you don’t want to.

Never be afraid to tell someone that you just “don’t want to.”