Learning to Say No
No. Negative. Nope. Nah. Not going to happen. These are some of my least favorite words. For many reasons, I've never been a fan of saying no. Maybe its because it closes an opportunity or goes against my desire to help people, but I just don't like doing it. Its not to say that I can't say no; I learned very quickly growing up that always saying yes lets people walk all over you. I just like to help people if I can, especially when it comes to my career in teaching. I thought I had done a pretty decent job saying no, but recent health developments this year has shown me that I still have a lot of work to do. In November of last year, I was diagnosed with systemic sclerosis, also known as scleroderma. Scleroderma is a rare autoimmune disease where the body overproduces collagen that builds up in the body. The systemic type means it builds up in your organs, not just the skin. They don’t know what causes it or how to cure it. Previously, I had been diagn