Saying yes when you say no

[Elisa Ortiz]

I just want to say 'thank you!' to the ladies in the group who met up on Saturday to talk about Chapter 3 in Not So Big Life and debated the merits of accumulating and discarding 'nuts' in our lives.

During the meeting, we decided to answer a couple of questions from the book:

1) What makes you feel most alive?
2) What in your life would like to retire from that doesn't hold meaning anymore?

We all had a bunch of great answers to the first question--most not involving work. My particular insight on the second question came down to one thing: my part-time job at Olsson's.

I started there because I really needed a little bit of extra money. I was just covering the bills with my temp job, but didn't have anything extra at all. That $70 or so a week I earned at Olsson's provided just a tiny cushion for a drink now and again and for any unforeseen bills. I kept working there after I didn't need to because I really liked it. I liked being able to talk about books, movies and music all the time and help out customers who loved the same things. But now, its just annoying and a drain on my time and frustration for multiple reasons.

So on Monday, I put in my 'resignation' (if you can call quitting a one-day-a-week part-time job a resignation). My last day will be March 10 and I'm pretty excited! No more scrambling to get out of my full-time early to get there in time. No more spending two to three hours a week being frustrated and bored (and having allergy attacks from all the dust that results from construction).

Esther, thanks so much for letting us know about that phrase "What are you saying no to if you say yes to something?" and its inverse (converse?): 'What can you say yes to once you say no to something?".

I have just said yes to having two to three more hours to do other things I love...or do nothing at all. Onto the next challenge: not cluttering up that time with more crap that doesn't make me feel alive.

[Sherrice K]

I had a great time...there are so many nuggets I'm still mining!!

Esther's comment about the trade-offs we make when we agree or disagree to do things really resonated to me too. So much so, that I decided that it would be better for me not to take on a commitment that I would have liked, but would have taken time away from job hunting -- which is vitally important at this point.

I'm looking forward to the next meeting!