I finished “Year of Yes” late last week. Shonda Rhimes is quite the story teller. Of course, many of you all are TGIT fans, so you knew that already. I, personally, gave up on Olivia long before the last season of Scandal, and I have only seen a few episodes each of Grey’s Anatomy, and How to Get Away with murder. I was pleased to find that the author’s actual life is more like mine than like the characters she has created for our viewing pleasure.

One of the biggest takeaways from the book was that by saying “No”, you are actually saying yes to something else. Ms. Rhimes example was that saying no to the gym, actually meant saying yes to being fat. That example felt like a punch in my flabby gut, as I haven’t been to the gym in 3 weeks, but I did buy two boxes of prepackaged snack cakes this weekend. It didn’t hurt me enough to actually force me into a workout, but it did make me think about the things that I am choosing to do. No to social interaction means I am saying yes to isolation. No to my early morning alarm means saying yes to being late to work.

The Bible says “Let your yes be yes, and your no be no.” Thinking about the fact that I am saying both at the same time is challenging me to think more about how I answer questions.

Here’s a list of things I have said yes (and no) to this week:
Yes to reading Shakespeare and no to responding to posts on Facebook (Hamlet is so good! But I wonder if the Bard suffered from depression.)
Yes to ice cream and game night with the kids, which means no to binge watching in the room by myself.
Yes to joining a Bible reading plan group meant no to random scriptures at my desk.
Yes to smiling at myself every time a pass by a mirror meant no to critical self talk in the mornings.

What are you saying yes to, not just with your lips, but with your actions? What are the things you are subconsciously saying yes to when you answer in the negative? I’d love to hear your thoughts.