Saying No

To be true to yourself, you must risk being disliked by others for not living up to their expectation of you. -- Eric Peng

I think about this a lot. I struggle with it often.

It’s not easy saying “no”

Yesterday, I had to prioritize other commitments over pleasure.

I had to choose to follow through with what I said I was going to do.

I said no to the movies with my family.

Writing this out, it almost seems ridiculous struggling with a such a simple yes or no question.

But it was hard. Of course I wanted to go out and spend time with them.

What made it even harder was the fear of missing out.

It’s not because I care more about work though, nor think that it’s more important.

My decisions are rooted in something so much deeper than that. It’s been about them, my loved ones, and why I have to say no sometimes in order for me to say yes to commitments that will allow me to have more options in life. Like the option to say yes to the movies next time.

We can get to the argument about being present later.

So what point am I even tryna make here?

-- I mean, it’s all about having options isn’t it?

The option to freely say yes or no, despite whatever circumstances.

The ability to say yes or no, based on what you want, not because you can or can’t.

Am I making sense? Are you following?

I wouldn’t choose to work if I didn’t have to.

I work because it yields results, those results being something that generates an abundance of an income. And hopefully abundant enough for me to turn it the other way around meaning less work, more play, do whatever I want, whenever I want. I’m simply giving up the good for the great right now. I say right now because I know it’s not forever, I’m confident I will get to where I want to go. I’m confident in my ability to figure it out, just like I always have.

Anyway, definitely feels like I’m starting to ramble a bit but these are just my thoughts. Reflecting over the past couple weeks, I’ve been enjoying sharing parts of my journey like this. Constantly expressing it forces me to think critically in a way. What I mean by this is that I’m not just pulling random words out of my mouth but allowing myself to become more clear with not just myself but the messages I’m trying to let out into the world.

Here’s an update on my work:

- Laying out the foundation for batch creating content has been a bit more time consuming than I had originally thought, so I’ve just been plugging away at that, been pretty chill editing on the balcony though, weather’s been great and I’m feeling blessed to be sitting on some new patio furniture my girl got us, how can I not be grateful?!

- Finally got going with the boys on a new thing we’re trying out, we’ve been teasing the idea of kicking something off together for awhile now so it’s cool to be able to get on the same page and in a way, be each other’s accountability partners. We’re pushing our personal brands and stepping out of comfort zones by getting on spaces together. Our commitment is daily and our goal is consistency. For now, it’s pretty casual but as we grow and expand, it’ll be cool to what it blossoms into, perhaps a full blown recorded podcast or even a profitable business together down the road. Come hang out with us, you’ll know we fucked up (or levelled the fuck UP) if we aren’t on at 9PM PST.