Just Say No 

I have the hardest time saying no. You, too?

I get an email reminder every single day from my Google calendar, listing out all the things I failed to say no to. But, wait! That’s only part of my Total Calendar Solution - the Google calendar manages my personal life only, plus pulls in four others (beautifully color-coded, thankfully), segmented by type: kids schedule - shared with the ex; daughter’s school calendar, non-profit org’s calendar, and one other calendar that I’ve now conveniently forgotten about. That’s the calendar that fires off an email at 4:52 each morning.

But, there’s more! The Google calendar gets slurped into my work iCal, which has several other calendars: my individual work schedule, team schedule, staff schedule, conference room schedule, and client schedules - all nicely color coded as well.

So my schedule on any given week, according to iCal? It’s a cornucopia of Skittles, in all the colors of the rainbow (but not nearly as tasty as the real thing, alas)! And I most DEFINITELY do NOT want an auto-email from that calendar, lest I run screaming into the sunrise at 6 am every day.

Lately, it’s become clear to me that I have to start giving stuff away - I’m getting deluged with piles and hordes of Skittles. And there’s no logical way to stem the deluge - not by color type, nor by priority.

The solution? To start saying NO. I’ve been practicing like this:

• I would LOVE to be at that meeting about district-wide facilities reconfigurations. But my schedule won’t permit it, sorry. Keep me informed by email instead, please?
• I can tentatively pencil you in for an all-day retreat in January, fellow synagogue member. But I may need to cancel as we get closer to the date, ok?
• Sorry, I can’t ever make it to a 6 pm meeting. My kids have this pesky habit of actually requiring dinner every single day, and I’d like to keep CPS off my back if possible, thanks!

But I need to get to a cleaner, clearer, more concise answer. Thus, my new mantra for the month of November: Say No to More, otherwise known as SayNoToMo.

I think it’s a motto we single mothers should adopt all year round, no?