Strength in Small Words

I woke up and did the thing I shouldn’t do. I went right to my phone to look for something I was hoping for. The thing I wanted didn’t happen for me. My immediate thought was ‘Maybe next time.‘ That was a pretty optimistic shift in how I perceived the moment.

Huh. My optimism hitched to me a little. I noted it. Nice.

How about that. The word maybe felt like being wrapped in a blanket of hope. Like I didn’t give up just because I didn’t get the news I wanted. I just felt hope for the next time. And, well, maybe, with all the work I have done, my brain is nicely rewired to fall into optimism. Thank goodness! And with all that positive energy maybe could become yes.

The other words

In my book My List, My Rules: The Year a Checklist Changed My Life, I spent a day saying yes to everything and another day saying no to everything. I wrote about how different those two days were and how powerful both of those itty bitty words are. Each is so strong in affirmation and negation.

And both surprised me.

What did I learn?

I learned that I didn’t say no as often as I thought I did. I actually barely said it (did you hear that Shonda Rhimes?) I mostly say yes! Sweet. Another affirmative. And the other thing I learned was that no wasn’t a terrible word. It was a helpful word. In fact, I can say that yes was a bit annoying and it bumped up against my boundaries a little more than I wanted to admit!

In any case, I am starting to understand that words are just words. We are the ones that get to put power in them—feelings behind them. And with that, I stay open to the next time, the next blessings, the next adventures. If you know, you know.

As always, thank you for reading lovelies.