Saying No...

So my younger brother returns home on leave. He's staying at his fiances but every day he calls up and asks "so ya wanna get drunk?" Now, this poor boy has no other way to chill out. His entire daily schedule has been turned upside down and then he's been loosed on society. It's horrible really but hey if my bro wants to kick it I'm there. Or so I thought 6 days ago. At this point I'm sick of drinking, of comments about drunken behavior and if I never see a bottle of Budweiser it will be all too soon.

This brings me to the point of this post... The ability to say "NO". Now you would think such a quiet laid back girl like myself(a little sarcasm for those who missed it) would never think of such a thing. I'm typically a let's go with the flow type of girl but this has gotten to be a little much. Sometimes you just have to say no.

Aside from not wanting to become an alcoholic, this is just not healthy behavior in general. This is one of those times when maybe no is actually better than yes. Now i hate to let down my brother, which isn't that how I ended up in this mess to begin with? And don't lie and say you've never gone along with something because you didn't want to disappoint someone. We compromise ourselves sometimes to please people- it's part of being human. But isn't part of being an enlightened being, being honest to who you are at all times??? As I'm thinking about this it just reassures that no is not always a bad thing. Below I've made a small list of when and why it's okay to say no. Feel free to add by posting a comment...

It's okay to say "NO" when:
1. what is being asked of you will later be a regret (i.e. drinking six days in a row)
2. saying yes will end up in someone being hurt- whether yourself or someone else (i.e. an affair, drug use, etc)
3. you want to (i.e. going out on a night when u have to work in the morning, or spending time with someone you don't like)

There's millions more reasons I'm sure. The point is that it's okay to stand up for yourself. People will respect you the more you respect yourself. So even if you have to stand in front of the mirror and practice it a million times till it doesn't sound funny on your tongue, the gift has now been passed to you. There is power in saying no, it's up to you to use it...