When you say “yes” to others, make sure you are not saying “no” to yourself. 

-Paulo Coelho

The November challenge was very simple: Say “no” to one (or many things) so that you could say “yes” to yourself. For a Type A personality who says “yes” without thinking twice, this was definitely a challenge for me.

Here’s a list of things that I said “no” to this month:

• I didn’t go to a movie I really wanted to see (and had free passes for) because I needed a workout more than I needed a free movie. 
• I took a walk by myself with no dogs on a Sunday afternoon. This is unheard of as the dogs are pretty much always walking with me.
• I  spent several of my lunch hours working on personal development instead of eating mindlessly and working through lunch as I often do. 
• I gave my partner stipulations about spending time together in the evenings and weekends after I was done taking care of me first. I’d like to think he appreciated that as it gave him more time to do what he wanted to do as well. 
• I went to bed at 7:30 one night instead of staying up to watch TV because I knew my body needed sleep.
• On Thanksgiving morning, I went to a 7:30 AM workout so that I could really enjoy what I would later be eating that day. 

By saying “no” to other things I wanted to do (and some I didn’t want to do), I was able to say “yes” to all the things my body and soul needed. It was definitely a NOvember for me- and I still have a few days left in the month to keep this trend going!

Get ready for the December challenge: 21 days of self-care. More information about the challenge will hit the blog and social media tomorrow.