In our Mental Health Carer Workshop “The Power of Personal Boundaries”, we discuss a very important topic, the power of saying ‘no’. This one small word can pack quite a punch and understandably, we sometimes find it difficult to utter this word.

Too often we feel like we have to say ‘yes’ and end up over-committed, stressed and resentful. And many times this is a direct result of never being taught how to hone this very handy skill.

Saying ‘no’ is definitely a skill worth learning and practising. It’s worth noting that often times when we say yes to other people, we’re saying no to ourselves. But why and to what end? While it can seem easier to say yes, this can sometimes be not only unfair to ourselves, but to the other person.

Your time is important and respecting yourself sometimes will mean you have to say no. Putting yourself first is not something to feel guilty about; it’s merely a matter of learning the skills and practising it.

If you remain unconvinced, how about thinking of your ‘yeses’ as a commodity? Your yes should mean something – it should be special and the less you give them out, the more value they will hold.

To help you get started on your training, we’ve compiled five different ways that you can say no. There are countless ways to convey this message to people, but these should get you started:

• Thanks for thinking of me, but I can’t this time.
• I’d love to, but I’ve already got plans.
• Maybe next time.
• I don’t want to say no but I have to.
• It sounds like a great idea, but I just can’t commit to it right now.

What do you think – do you think you could work any of these into your “no thank you” arsenal? If you’ve got a better way to say no (that’s clean and polite), we’d love to hear it! We might be able to add it into our workshop notes to help other carers and family members as well.

If you have any questions about this article or need someone to talk to, you can call Arafmi any time of the day on 07 3254 1881. It’s comforting to know that when you need to talk – someone who understands will be there – at any hour.

Learn More About Our Workshops for Mental Health Carers

Here at Arafmi Ltd we run regular workshops to help assist carers of people with a psychosocial mental illness. This particular blog was borne from our Power of Personal Boundaries Workshop which explores how to set a boundary, how and why we sabotage our efforts as well as ways to practice the steps to set healthy boundaries.

Follow this link and see the dates of our upcoming workshops.