Yes or No Person

Tropical Storm Debby has finally made her way past Orlando.  Goodbye Debby, hellooooooo running outside with Roadie again!

I spent a short morning at the barre, then came home around 9 a.m. and took advantage of the opportunity to run before the heat set in.  After four days of clouds, rain and being bored inside, Roadie was a wee bit excited to get outdoors.

I give the guy credit for keeping up on a later morning run in the Florida heat.  I made sure it wasn’t past 80 before we headed out, and I managed to find a good bit of shade for the majority of the run.

I try to be really careful when taking Roadie with me for runs in the heat and always provide rest time by his favorite spots.

We knocked out 2.5 miles in 24 minutes and someone was zonked after.

When I’m by myself I try to push myself to climb the eight flights of stairs.  With Roadie, I just can’t put him through much more that running.  Clearly.

Yes or No Person

While driving to work Wednesday morning, I turned to a popular morning radio show in Orlando called Johnny’s House.  The subject they were debating back and forth really interested me, and I was tempted to actually call in to the show to give an opinion on this one.

Johnny posed the question, “Are you a Yes or No Person?” basically asking how you respond to people asking you for favors or to commit to doing something.  Whether they are a close friend, a family member or an acquaintance, do you generally agree to do things for people, even if you don’t really care to do it?

Here is how the radio show responded, straight off of their Live Blog:

Johnny spoke up first and laid it all out there saying he has no problem saying no.  If he isn’t into helping at that particular moment, or think he might be at the bottom of the list of people the person asking has called, he says no and doesn’t think twice about it.

Brian said he often pulls the “I didn’t see the call at 2 a.m.” excuse, saying if he doesn’t respond, he doesn’t have to say yes or no.  Both Laura and Claire hate saying no and often get drug into situations or favors they admittedly don’t want to be a part of.

Is this a female vs. male perspective situation?  Both men said they can say no without feeling guilty, while both women said they can get hung up on saying no for days after.

They then went on to explain who gets a yes or no.  Johnny said if the person is just an acquaintance, he has no issue telling them he can’t do something, but if it is a close friend or family member asking he is more likely to say yes.  The women shared the complete opposite saying if they don’t know the person that well, they feel bad for letting them down, while close friends and family would understand.

Interesting!  They took complete opposite sides and started to get me thinking…

I am probably closest to Laura – I have finally gotten to the point where I can tell someone no, but it’s not as often as I would like.  I have a guilty conscious and if I let someone down, it used haunt me for days.

Realizing I had become a bit of a push over, I started telling people no more frequently and just told myself to get over it.  As I get older, it is easier for me to realize what really matters to say yes to and what doesn’t.

• Parties/Showers: If I am close enough to you to attend, of course I’ll go.  If I’m not, I’ll go if I am available and want to.

• Birthdays/Going Out: If it is a really close friend or family member I will, but if I’m really tired or don’t want to spend a lot of money, I’ll skip it.  Most people know this is nothing personal – just me getting a backbone.

• Helping Out a Friend: If you are a true friend in need of my personal assistance, of course I will help you.  If you are a co-worker or an acquaintance trying to take advantage of the fact that I “say yes,” then I am sorry, but no.  Been there, done that, done.

After thinking about it and realizing I have come a long way with my ability to say no, it makes me wonder how everyone else thinks.

Questions of the Day

Are you a Yes or No person – do you say yes just to avoid guilt, or say no without thinking twice?

Do you think people who say yes to everything are “push-overs” or just good people?