Just try a different door

I have spent most of my life afraid of No. It is a word we hear young, repeatedly. We learn it is to be avoided. No usually means some transgression of boundaries something we might get in trouble for. Something gone wrong. We crave yes, we work for yes, so much so “No” becomes very hard to hear. So when it comes about it usually leaves us with a sharp sting and the thought that we never should have asked or tried in the first place. 

But what if there was a different reading of this situation. What is No wasn’t rejection but redirection. As a result not something to push through or fear, but even more clarity on where is next. Asking the question if anything helps us orientate ourselves a little easier.  

Whether you believe the things that are meant for you will come or not, other people can believe something is for you or not and say yes or no to you. The decision is always yours to figure out what you do with it, the best advice I heard is just go and knock on a different door. 

Why is this a game changer for me? 

Because it brings a lightness to no. It turns no from the worst thing in the world to just a piece of navigation. Which is of course where we end up. Redirected to something new. Who knows what would have been if the No had been a Yes, to be honest it’s not worth thinking about. But what is worth thinking about are all the things that could have been if you hadn’t been scared to hear no.

Because the greatest sadness is not a no, but a request we are too scared to make. 

Don’t quit asking, just try a different door.