Our health and well-being are heavily influenced by the people and energy we allow to rent space in our minds.
Yeah, we can work on our habits all we want, but our hard work can easily be unraveled by subscribing to the wrong people and ideas.
Because of this, many of us will have a turbulent personal growth and health improvement journey.
So in order to accelerate the gains we make from this journey, we must also work on (and become comfortable with) just saying ‘no’.
And I don’t mean ‘no’ with a side order of ‘why’. Just say ‘no’.
If they ask why then maybe provide a short reason. But you shouldn’t ever feel the need to willingly give it up.
Some of you might ask, “but isn’t it harmless to just provide the justification?”. Well, I don’t think so.
The problem with needing to provide a justification right after saying ‘no’ is that it undermines your belief in why you do what you do. It also allows you to subscribe to guilt when you’re actually doing the right thing for yourself.
But won’t this make people dislike us? Maybe. But do we really want these people around us? The right people that support our good choices will respect our rejection. They won’t need our ‘yes’ or reasoning to validate their own choices.
This might not apply to several social constructs such as business and education but when it comes to personal matters, it should be prioritized for optimal well-being.
As we confidently say' ‘no’ to others, while selectively saying ‘yes’, we curate an external environment that effectively supports our health and growth. It signals to others and ourselves that our personal well-being matters.
Because really, what else matters if optimized personal well-being doesn’t?
That’s all from me, I hope you have an amazing week. If you know people who need to hear this, please do share this with them 🙏🏾
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About Me
My name is Arun and I'm a 4th-year medical student at King's College London. I'm also a certified personal trainer and lifestyle photographer.
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For thoughts about this newsletter, please drop an email at hello@arunjayaraj.com
As you have pointed out, this might not apply to business as we have been trained to explain rationale for saying No to ideas, business proposals and the like. On a personal basis, I prefer to explain No in order to keep a relationship going. However, if the other party get upset and does mot accept the reasons, then just too bad.