Emotional and Stress-Eating, Life Coaching

For some people, saying ‘no’ to a request or expectation is effortless and they don’t give it another thought.

If you’re eating for comfort, to cope with stress, or to deal with your emotions, it’s highly likely that you are someone who says ‘yes’ to more things than you have room for. And it’s likely you do that so other people will approve of you.

But it leaves you exhausted and not able to do the things you want to do. You might not even know what you want to do.

Here are some beginning tips to saying ‘no’ when it’s hard:

1. It’s not about time

Everyone has 24 hours in a day. How you use that time is about PRIORITIES.

2. Notice your priorities

Take note of how you spend your time, your money and your attention. Those are the things you are prioritising. Are they the things you want to prioritise?

3. Decide what’s a ‘no’

Make a list of the priorities you want to keep. (Include rest/sleep because that’s imperative.) Work out whether you can actually fit those things into a reasonable day. If you can’t, trim the list.
Everything not on the list is a ‘no’ unless you’re prepared to drop something in your list.

4. Use the list

When someone asks you to do something, check whether it’s on your list. If it’s not and you’re not prepared to drop something, be up-front about having decided on priorities. Try words to the effect of, “Thanks for asking; I can’t fit that into my priorities at the moment.”

5. Take your time

If saying ‘no’ outright feels super hard, ask for some time to think about it. That gives you some breathing space to craft your ‘no’.
Say ‘no’ as early as you can though because that enables the other person to ask someone else.

6. But it’s my boss!

Is your boss giving you more work than you can reasonably do in the time they pay you for?
Invite them to tell you which item should be deprioritised in order to take on the new work.

These things are not necessarily easy but they’re worth the practice. The current alternative is probably eating into your health.

Photo by Daniel Herron on Unsplash