I don’t mean it literally. It was just a play on the “Say No To Drugs” campaign. But what I do mean is that a lot of people have difficulty saying no to nice things, and as a result they get taken advantage of sometimes.

This morning I was on the bus full of people and an older woman asked a young boy “Can I have your seat?” The young boy looked confused. Nobody had probably ever asked him that before or been so direct about their request. She said it with a smirk on her face as if the seat was already hers 🙂

After a few seconds of thought, the boy got up and the woman took his seat. Granted, young men should get up for older women anyways, I’m probably reading this situation wrong. But it made me think about other times in life where we have difficulty saying no to nice things.

There are countless examples like:

• being asked by a boss to do something against our own will because it will be good for your career and the company
• being asked by a cute little kid to donate to a cause that you don’t know much about
• being asked by a no good friend to borrow some money
• being asked at the last minute to pick someone up from the airport when you’re busy
• Etc

It is possible to say “no” and have a smile on your face. Rather than saying “no” to some situations and cutting them off, we just say nothing, hoping they don’t ask again. Without the word “no” readily at hand, people can take advantage of us and we will find ourselves manifesting other people’s visions and desire as opposed to our own.