Having the ability to say No

Do you have the ability to say no?

My husband would agree that I often say no, I'm not doing that, I'm not going there, I'm not saying that!

Stubborn apparently!

However until a year or so ago I found I couldn't say no to other people! Would I like to be on a committee? Yes

Could I help out doing this? Yes

The words just slipped out of my mouth so easily, after all I do like helping people and I do like being involved in a lot of things.

Anyway about 18months ago I just felt the time had come to say no. It was hard at first but I carried on with my previously agreed commitments but said no to new ideas and opportunities.

To be honest I was so busy it felt very liberating to say no, I had a bit more time for me.

But this year I've decided it's time to become involved with stuff again, say yes , but only a little bit!

So yes,yes,yes, I've already said yes!  And now I'm wondering what on earth I've done!

I'm an active committee member for the local branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) and love being involved and doing my bit. This year however my bit just got a wee bit bigger!

Every year we organise a Fish and Chip supper, last year about 90 people attended. We have a guest speaker, usually on a nautical theme, who gives a talk for about 45 minutes and then we serve fish and chips from a local fish and chip shop. It's a great evening and we raise a lot of money for the RNLI.

This year I've agreed to be the guest speaker! Me! I'm it! Eeek!

To be honest we were desperate, a few people we had in mind weren't able to help us out so it was suggested that as I had had a nautical career it would be interesting to talk about it.

So I've got 44 days to prepare a talk about my life at sea. So what would you want to hear about if you came to hear me talk?  Help, if you were my audience what would interest you?

All comments welcomed