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LOVE TO SAY NO<br />
Set boundaries, prioritise yourself and your own energy and healing<br />
Text: Kerry Rudman from Brain Harmonics<br />
hat if you declined<br />
a dinner invite or<br />
said no to an event<br />
your ex would be at,<br />
or even just said no<br />
to anything. This might<br />
leave you feeling a little<br />
selfish or guilty.<br />
It doesn’t matter that you’re<br />
emotionally and physically exhausted,<br />
or that your mental health is suffering.<br />
You might lie awake in bed, thinking<br />
about how you should have done<br />
something differently or been better<br />
in some other way. Saying no feels<br />
like a failure, like you’re incompetent<br />
or unequipped to handle the<br />
situation, you might worry about<br />
how it affects the other person.<br />
But if saying NO helps you prioritise<br />
yourself and your own energy and<br />
healing, are you really being selfish?<br />
Even though it’s defined as being<br />
concerned with only your own<br />
personal pleasure and profit, as<br />
well as lacking consideration for<br />
others, we still think of selfish as the<br />
times when we’re simply putting<br />
ourselves first.<br />
We’re told we need to adjust our own<br />
oxygen masks first before helping<br />
others in a plane emergency. Or to<br />
make sure the scene is safe for you<br />
before helping anyone who’s hurt. No<br />
one would call us selfish for following<br />
those instructions.<br />
Sometimes the right thing is to be<br />
‘selfish’. Don’t define your actions on<br />
other people’s judgements.<br />
12 Get It Magazine <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 20<strong>23</strong>
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