Yes.

"When you say yes the Universe helps you"
Dan Brule

I recently met a woman in a busy, bustling restaurant who spoke to me as if we had known one other for years. Her warmth and positivity drew me in on an otherwise stressful day when I would have tried to escape her longwinded nature.  This day (for some reason) I leaned in.  This is when she told me about the year that changed her life.   The year of yes.  

I have heard this saying as a mantra and even read about the concept as a life changing mechanism, but this was the first time hearing someone proclaim it as an actual event.  I wanted to know more.  I asked her if she would tell me everything and of course she said, yes!

Turns out she was quite reluctant at first to the whole nonstop yes idea.  In the beginning it was a lot more about potluck dinners, co-worker get togethers and social functions. The kind of events that, lets face it, are not really ones we want to say yes to when asked johnny on the spot. Or in my case, the type of event invitations I might duck behind a bathroom stall in order to avoid.  Yeh, those.
But no matter how boring, how seemingly lame, she said yes!  Some, she said, were quite  tiresome events after work, Friday evenings and a specific time I never wanna be bothered, Sunday afternoons.

Learning to say yes was the biggest part, she explained.  She went on to say we're so socially programmed to say NO that often it's our first response gut reaction not an actual decision process.
Apparently these initial yesses were more of a training ground for amazing things to come, because before she knew it bigger yesses were just around the bend.

Before long she found herself saying yes to places entirely out of her comfort zone. Scuba diving, elephant riding, zip lining, walking on burning coals.  She went to bah mitzvahs, christenings and even a dark magic convention or two.  She saw country bands, metal bands, classic operettas and a multitude of music she had never heard before. Along these adventures she met people she would have never spoken to in her normal routine of life.  People, whose views were entirely opposite of hers. Within these new relationships she found the most freedom to be herself.  After all, this was all new territory, new ground.  A whole new her.

By the 6th month into her year of yes, she said something transformed within her social interaction and spirit. Now instead of just saying YES to life she was beginning to be the initiator.  She suddenly wanted to be not only the invitee, but also the inviter. She said around the 7, 8 and 9 month mark she was so filled with exuberance she couldn't help but want to share it with those in her world. She wanted everyone to know the joy of yes.

By month 10?  She had visited 3 continents, seen 4 of the world's 7 wonders and fallen madly in love with her soulmate. A soul mate she says, she would never had found if she had not had the courage to say yes.  A yes that she had been spending years and years of her life saying no to. She had trying times, breathtakingly beautiful moments, close calls, setbacks, victories and most importantly, laughter.

This woman's story became more enthralling, engaging and animated with each word spoken.  It was as if I had just gone along the journey with her.  Mesmerized, I felt happily exhausted, as if all those elephant rides and burning feet embers were my own.   Palpable. Unforgettable.

As she walked away she left this last statement as an indelible passport stamp on my brain...

   "I'm living a LIFE OF YES now because one year was just not enough!"

Say yes today.
May your potluck dinner be delicious.


Hepburn hugs and Ric Ocasek Dreams,

xo

Birdee Bow