Practical encouragement for healthier minds, stronger relationships, and a life of faith. Join me for thoughtful reflections, practical tools, and conversations to help you live and relate well.
Maybe You Don’t Need to Answer Right Away
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Welcome to The Hope Note. I’ve been thinking lately about how quickly we can say yes. Someone asks for our help. Someone needs something. A request comes in—and sometimes before we’ve even considered what it will require of us, we’ve already agreed. And then later comes the thought: Why did I say yes to that? Sometimes the problem isn’t that we don’t know how to say no. We haven’t learned to give ourselves enough time to decide. One of the simplest boundary tools I teach is this: “Let me think about it and get back to you.” You don’t have to give an immediate answer just because someone has asked you a question. That pause gives you an opportunity to ask yourself: Am I able to do it? And then you can answer intentionally rather than automatically. Something to practice this week The next time someone asks something of you, resist the urge to answer immediately. Try saying: “Let me think about it and get back to you.” Then actually give yourself time to think. Sometimes a healthier boundary begins with nothing more complicated than a pause. Until next time, Deidra-Ann P.S. If boundaries and people-pleasing are areas you want to work on more intentionally, my four-week live group, From People-Pleasing to Peace, begins October 1. Registration is still open here. |
The Hope Note
Practical encouragement for healthier minds, stronger relationships, and a life of faith. Join me for thoughtful reflections, practical tools, and conversations to help you live and relate well.
The Hope Note Sometimes we expect our spiritual lives to be filled with extraordinary moments. A powerful answer to prayer. A breakthrough we’ve been waiting for. An unmistakable sense of God’s presence. And those moments can be beautiful. But what about the ordinary days? The days when you’re preparing meals, answering emails, caring for your family, going to work, or simply trying to make it through another busy week? It’s easy to overlook those moments because they don’t feel particularly...
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