Steem4nigeria Accelerator Contest Week 51: l learnt to say "NO"

It's my pleasure to participate in this contest, I hope everyone in this community are doing well, yes sure am doing absolutely well. I thank @steem4nigeria for organizing this contest title l learnt to say "NO". Here in details my opinion in this contest.

Sometimes, people find it difficult to say NO to a situation even when it is not pleasant to them, they still find it difficult to say NO to it, which is not right, it is possible of destroying you inside a while you are trying to please someone.

It was actually difficult for me to say NO to some situation even when it's no pleasant to me, but by the grace of God I have created that habit of saying NO when the situation doesn't go according to my own decisions.

It was always hard for me to say NO to my boss even when she is wrong, I feel she might get angry and anything can happen. So I decided to always say YES ma, but the fact is that she's not like how I was thinking.

Even to people who are my senior, my parents, friends, people who have authority thinking they will get angry over me. I was so soft whereby I don't want to every hot someone, my thoughts was that if I disagree with someone's opinion might lead to quarrel, or even fighting.

But thanks be to God, I can now say NO to some situation depending on how the situations are, I also make sure to use a very polite way to disagree to opinion which are not pleasant to me.

In my own aspect and experience, I see that people finds it difficult to say NO because of the following reasons;

1. Desire to Please others: Many people want to be liked and accepted by people like the way it was happening to me, so of that they avoid saying NO to avoid disappointing others.
2. Fear of Conflict: Saying NO can lead to confrontation or disagreement, that's why many people find it difficult to say it to people so that they will not be confront.
3. Guilt: Some individuals feel guilty when they refuse a request or turn down an opportunity, fearing they are letting someone down, or thinking it may work against them.
4. Lack of Assertiveness: many people struggle with assertiveness and they feel unsure about how to assert their own needs and boundaries effectively.
5. Fear of Missing Out: many people think if they say NO to peoples opinion might result in missing out on something important or beneficial.
6. Empathy and Compassion: So many felel the sense of empathy which makes them find it hard to say "no" because people don't want to cause others distress or inconvenience.

It has happened several times without numbered, when decide to say NO to opinion even when it's doesn't work for my favour, I found out that I will always be trouble about it, I will feel uncomfortable, and sometimes it hot me and affect others.

Something happen one day, there was no food in the house, so we decided to gather some money to prepare food for ourselves, and we where deciding on the food that should be cooked, they choose a good I don't like, I was scared of saying NO just to please my brothers, I when the food was prepared I could not eat, I stayed hungry and it provoked me a lot, what even matters was, they didn't mind if I eat or not.

While I was pleasing them, they never mind if am okay when they were eating, since then I decided no to please anyone, no matter what.

Learning to say "no" can be challenging but is crucial for maintaining personal boundaries and well-being. My personal advice to those who are still struggling to say NO is that:
They should understand their Priorities: that is they should clearly define what is important to them, knowing your priorities makes it easier to recognize when to say no.

They should Practice Assertiveness: Practice saying no in a calm, firm, and respectful manner will help them get use to it, like saying "I'm not comfortable with that.

Give Yourself Time: If you're unsure, buy time by saying, "Let me think about it and get back to you." This will allows you to consider your response without pressure.

Start Small: Begin by saying no to small requests or in low-stakes situations to build your confidence.

Seek Support: Surround yourself with supportive people who respect your boundaries and can offer encouragement when you need to say NO.

With this, I think it can help you to be able to start saying NO to unpleasant situation, that is not comfortable to you.

Thanks for reading, I invite @samuelnkenta, @wealth2 and @goodybest