Empowering Nurses at the Bedside and in Business

No Is A Complete Sentence

Have you ever been at the nurses’ station and the manager comes over and says “We need someone to stay over and do a double shift.” You want to run and hide, you have plans and you are flat out exhausted. You hope that one of your coworkers will say yes. The first one said “No I can’t, my daughter has a school function tonight. The second one said “No, I have an appointment I can’t cancel.” They declined and it’s your turn. You feel guilty and think to yourself, “who else will take care of these patients” and “I really could use the money.” You yawn and say “Well, if no one else will do it, I guess I will.”

By saying yes, you just compromised yourself. You had other plans and had concerns because you were exhausted. You did not listen to your body and your gut which was screaming ‘No, No, No!” You are setting yourself up for trouble.

The prices we pay whenever we compromise our self, is to lose a piece of ourselves. We put our health in jeopardy and miss out on the fun and joy with the other plans that we needed to cancel. The pay off is that we get to be the hero. The one that steps up when no one else would and says “Yes.” For many of us, it is hard to stand in our power and be true to our self and just say NO! No is a complete sentence by itself. We do not need to justify or defend why we said no. You have a choice to compromise yourself and be out of integrity to yourself when you say yes or you can say a simple NO. Where in your life are you saying yes to things you really don’t want to? What is holding you back from saying NO? Is it fear of the consequences? Are the consequences real or imagined? Just remember, there is power in the word NO so that when you do say yes, it is much more meaningful.

I would love to hear your thoughts about this blog below.   What ways do you say, “No” and feel empowered?

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