Around this time of year, we hear copious New Year’s resolutions. “New year, new me!” gets plastered all over social media and infiltrates conversations with family and friends when you ask about their plans for the new year. Personally, I refuse to take part in empty promises to myself in a socially constructed new beginning of time.
However, after much thought, I did realize something important I want to change in the way I look at situations in my life: the importance of standing up for myself and learning to say no. For my entire life, I have been, for the lack of a better term, a pushover when it comes to appeasing the needs of people in my life. I always drop everything and go out of my way to stay an extra hour at work for no pay, pick up a friend when I don’t have the time to do so, and take on an extra role in a club because I am afraid to hurt someone’s feeling by saying no. But forget that.
This is a time for me to focus on myself and be a little selfish for once in my life. This is a time for me to focus on personal growth, especially as I am trying to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life. And most importantly, this is a time for my mental and physical health to be a priority so that I can be happy and healthy in who I am, what I do and what I stand for.
So I encourage you all—next time you are overwhelmed with all your schoolwork, family life, social life and extracurricular involvement, don’t be afraid to say no. Don’t be afraid to tell your boss you really can’t come in two extra days because you need a break. Don’t be afraid to turn down being president of that club because you really don’t want all the stress or the time commitment of it. Don’t be afraid to tell your friend that you can’t pick them up on the way to class because it is too hectic to get there in the morning. And especially, don’t be afraid to tell that guy (or girl) that you don’t want to go home with them. It is OK not to be a people-pleaser all the time. You can say no. It might surprise you how good it feels.
