The word YES is powerful, and if you learn to say YES to the opportunities that life continuously presents you with, you can change your life for the better.
On the contrary, if you say NO to what life offers you, all you do is stop yourself from opening your mind and from experiencing a meaningful and exciting existence.
On your deathbed, you will sadly think about the times when you didn’t seize an opportunity because you didn’t say YES to life.
Looking back at how they have “survived” throughout their lives, most people regret having always played safe, i.e. having proceeded by inertia without ever taking any risks.
"And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more". - Erica Jong
WHY DO WE TEND TO SAY NO, RATHER THAN SAY YES TO LIFE?
It’s because something scares us.
Instead of following our curiosity, we let our irrational fears prevail, and we come up with excuses to justify why we say NO.
In other words, we lie to ourselves.
The need to stay with what is familiar is so rooted that we prefer to live in our comfort zone, surviving through the days, instead of exploring the unknown.
You may wonder.
“Why should I stretch my comfort zone, get uncomfortable if I feel so “comfortable” where I am”?
Because when you live every single day the same boring routine, you prevent yourself from widening your horizon.
You prevent yourself from having new experiences, and from living a life that’s worth living.
As a result, many people end up thinking their life is meaningless, which is not surprising considering that they live the same repetitive and monotonous situations day in, day out.
It’s like having pizza every single day.
Even if it is your favorite food you get sick of it after your hundredth consecutive pizza.
Becoming aware that our tendency to say NO to life stems from irrational fears, gives us the choice to consciously start saying YES.
Saying YES to life is what makes it worth living.
Don’t let fears lead you to say NO to life anymore!
Don’t wait to wake up one day and realize that your life has slipped through your fingers, and you have not made the most out of it.
Refuse to get to the end of your life with regrets for having turned down the countless opportunities that showed up!
YES MAN
Have you ever seen Yes Man? If not, give it a go, it’s worth it.
Yes Man is a comedy film where the main character, Carl - played by Jim Carrey - experiences an unsatisfactory life.
After divorcing his wife, he becomes withdrawn, and every day is the same monotonous routine for him.
It doesn’t take long for Carl to feel depressed and hopeless.
Then, when all hope seems to have faded, he decides to accept an old colleague’s invitation and attend a seminar led by an inspirational guru, who cuts a deal with Carl: he will commit to saying YES to every opportunity that comes his way no matter what.
By keeping up with his covenant, i.e. saying YES to life, Carl discovers what living a meaningful and exciting life truly means.
FROM SURVIVING TO TRULY LIVING
As well as making you laugh, this enlightening film teaches an important life lesson:
“Life always begins with one step outside of your comfort zone”. - Shannon L. Alder
Only when he decides to stop doing the same thing repeatedly and start getting out into the unknown, does Carl move from being depressed and hopeless to becoming fully alive.
When we wake up in the morning and we hope to get to the end of our day without coming across any pitfalls, hoping that everything goes right and smoothly we are just SURVIVING.
In other words, when we are afraid to walk the unbeaten path, to say YES to new opportunities, to say YES to life, we are NOT LIVING.
On the contrary, when we are not driven by fears, when we wake up in the morning thrilled to seize the day and eager to embrace all the opportunities that turn up, then we are TRULY LIVING.
LIVING implies embracing change, being open to new experiences.
“A ship in a harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for”. - John Augustus Shedd
It’s your choice now, if - like Carl and most people out there - you feel trapped in a repetitive and boring existence, you may consider making a covenant with yourself to start saying YES to life.
By the way, I am not challenging you to become a "YES PERSON" like Carl and say YES to everything, even things that are not aligned with your values.
I want to challenge you to be bold enough to say YES to the opportunities that spark curiosity in you and generate some desire that lies dormant within your familiar days.
These opportunities are often your guiding intuitions to take risks, to say YES to life.
Take a risk and make the change.
Just trust your gut!
A CRICKET MATCH OPPORTUNITY
I just want to give you an example of how I trusted my gut and said YES to life.
A few days ago, I was invited to play cricket.
I had never handled a cricket bat before, while the other participants had already played cricket and knew its rules.
Therefore, when I was invited to take part in the match my first thought was:
“I’d better turn down the invitation to avoid making a fool of myself”.
Yet, a spark of curiosity arose within me, as well as the realization that I was about to be stopped by the fear of what people might think of my performance.
This awareness gave me the motivation to follow through and take part in the match.
In the end, I was so happy to have said YES to this opportunity.
I had an amazing day, met new interesting people, and learned how to play cricket.
Next time I am invited I will enjoy the game, even more, that’s for sure.
We also had a barbecue at the end of the game, which was the icing on the cake.
Saying YES, despite the fear of judgment, turned out to be worth it.
Stop caring what others think of you and say YES to life.
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Hey Christian! As always happens to me with your blog, I found on this post a great deal of inspiration 🙂 thank you very much for sharing your self-development plan with us. The goal is always to become better!!
Awesome Cristina!! Love what you wrote: the goal is always to become better:)
By taking 1 step every single day after one year you will have gone such a long distance.
Keep growing!💪🏻
Hi Christian! I totally agree with every single word you said, I couldn’t have found better words and examples to give voice to that simple truth! Let’s keep on saying YES, without being afraid of leaving our comfort zone. There’s always a reward for the brave ones!
Love your energy, Marcella!!! Thanks a lot for sharing it. Let’s get out of our comfort zone, let’s say YES to life, and let’s seize the countless opportunities we are gifted by, day in and day out.
You have to learn to say yes at the beginning of your journey. As you grow and become more impactful – more and more random requests from other people will come your way. Then you have to learn and gain the strength to say no even when it’s uncomfortable. It’s takes wisdom and a sense of balance to know when to say yes and when to say no.
Thank you for your thoughts Christian.
I definitely agree with you, Mikolaj. It’s of paramount importance to learn when to say YES and when to say NO.
Having said that, I really believe that way too often, people don’t say YES to the opportunities that life offers them and so they give up the possibility to live life on their own terms and make the most out of it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I really appreciate it.
Absolutely love this and I use to be the one to always say no out of fear or not being good enough. But I am learning to say yes to things I fear.
So inspiring Christian, and reminds us to not listen to the voice that holds us back!
Too often we tend to say NO to life because of irrational fears.
Once we become aware of it we have the opportunity to challenge fears, and in doing so grow and experience wonderful experiences that can change our life for the better:)
Keep saying YES to what life offers you day in day out Christine 😉
YES to Life! I got interested to watch the movie 🙂 I feel to learn to say YES and go with the flow it’s a great mantra… I do feel to learn to say NO when we have to set our boundaries and limits is also very important. YES and NO are actually very powerful words that when used properly at the right time can make our life much more rich and positive.
I agree with you Pedro, YES and NO are both two powerful words. Yet, I think most of the time we are afraid of saying YES because it means getting out of our comfort zone, but it’s there where we have the opportunity to shape our lives.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Pedro 🙏🏻