Deny Thyself

I am a woman . . . a female . . . a lady . . . a chick which means that I have something within my internal wiring that goes straight from my heart to my mouth totally bypassing my brain.  It is this routing problem that leads us of the fairer sex to frequently utter but rarely mean the word "yes".  Could you bake two hundred cupcakes for the school bake sale?  Can you watch my dog for the weekend?  Can you drive me to the airport?  Unlike most of my gender, I can produce the word "no" with ease.  I take great pride in this fact.  It has taken me years to perfect this ability.  "No" is a very freeing word and I relish that it is an active part of my volcabulary.  So then how have I ended up planning a baby shower, making a homemade blanket, starting up a library, and about a hundred other things.  Because I volunteered for them.  No request required.  Our need to mother and provide for everyone is why we often end up voluntarily putting everyone else first and ourselves last - a very unhealthy thing to do.  We all need to learn to use that word "no" and use it on ourselves.  Ideas of "I should" and "I could" need to be quickly and thoroughly evaluated before being produced outside of oneself.  Take care of you first and the rest will fall into place . . . whether you're the one handling it or not.  Its ok to say "no" even to yourself and if you find it too hard, when asked simply answer with "the opposite of yes".