A few years ago I decided to make a conscious effort to say “yes” more often. The idea was that if you get invited to somethings and you say, “aww, I can’t,” or give one of those “maybes” that really mean “nah, I’ll most likely cancel at the last-minute,” then after a while, you stop getting those invitations and one day you are sitting at your desk at 7:00pm on a Friday night wondering why you are alone.

I am kind of a very social recluse. I know, that sounds like an oxymoron. I don’t always notice when I’ve spent a lot of time alone. I get used to it. But I also crave interaction with others. I need those human connections. But it’s easy to get lazy or, after spending many hours alone, shy away from going out. It becomes a cycle: I haven’t been out in hours, so I don’t feel like venturing out, so I stay alone for more hours, which makes me not want to deal with the hassle of the outside world even more…. it’s self-perpetuating.

Because I know I have the propensity to fall into that pattern, I decided to say “yes” more often.

“Yes!” I would love to go to your pool party this coming Sunday.
“Yes!” I will help out with the creek cleanup.
“Yes!” I will volunteer to host at the film festival.

And I almost always have fun at these things. And even the times I haven’t had such a fabulous time, I’ve learned something. Sometimes the learning is just knowing I can suck it up enough to get through whatever it was! Ha!

One of the really cool things about saying “Yes!” is that other cool things tend to happen because of it. I meet new people, I get invited to something else interesting, maybe I learn a new recipe… there’s always something.

And it’s wonderful.