Learning to Say No + Finding Joy in Jesus

Hey friends! It’s Friday! You made it. Have a glass of wine to celebrate. (Maybe after work though.) Sidenote: I’m so sorry about my hair in these pics, the wind was super aggressive that day 😑

Question. Do any of y’all consider yourselves to be people pleasers? Like no matter how badly you want to say no, it seems physically impossible for you? Well, same. This is something that’s been on my heart a lot lately so I thought I would share a little bit with you guys.

Pretty much my whole life, I’ve been all about doing what everyone else wanted me to do. I like to make people genuinely happy, which in itself is not a bad thing. I mean, we are here to love each other, take care of each other, and build each other up. Which sounds a lot like making each other happy. But is it really the same? Lately, I’ve decided it’s really not the same. At the end of the day, our joy (not happiness; happiness is a fleeting feeling) is found in Jesus. It comes from loving ourselves first. And if we can’t do that, well, we surely can’t do it for anyone else. It’s a vicious cycle of constantly trying to make yourself happy through making others happy. So why do we try so hard? Still pondering on that one. But what I do know, is this year I’m learning to find more joy in Jesus, and less in other people. And that means not trying to please other people.

I’ve recently made a decision in my career that I won’t go into a ton of detail about. But it was pretty risky. It was kind of one of those things where if I didn’t take the opportunity, another one like it might not come knocking. But at my core, I knew it was not what I wanted. It was what a lot of other people wanted for me, or thought that I wanted or needed. As a distraction from Kevin being gone, to further my career, to get that “dream job”, you name it. Well, your dreams are YOUR dreams and they are allowed to change. You are allowed to have a say. So for once, I decided to put myself first and say no. And guess what? The world didn’t end. I’m still here. And a huge weight is off of my shoulders.

I truly believe that other opportunities will come along, even if it’s not what I had planned or what I expected. And I’m totally ok with that. Im ok with letting God take the lead on this one. He tends to know what He’a doing. So I hope this helps you, someone, anyone, to learn that it is completely ok to say no. I actually really encourage it.

Outfit Details: Trench Coat (similar here and here) | Jeans (similar here) | Heels | Crossbody

Have the best weekend everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

xo Hayley