Why Can't We Accept, NO?

There is such a word. Though, these days, it's hardly in many people's vocabulary. I think the reason for that is we have been trained to believe that anything and everything is at our disposal whenever we want it. Strive! Strive! Strive! You will get the prize!

Unfortunately, as a result of not being able to accept NO, we've robbed ourselves of the freedom that often comes with finality, (the end of the road if you will). It's funny how often many of us also get sick of the road that never ends. All that being said, none of us like to be told we can't have or do something that we've set our minds to do. None of us want to embrace such concepts as patience on the long road or humility on the road that has long since come to an end.

It's too bad really. I've seen a lot of miserable individuals around me who would be better off if they just accepted the word NO and moved on to something more productive. That productivity could be helping another person who has had more than his fair share of doors slammed in his face.

So often we open the same door over and over again only to find emptiness and disappointment. We stay on a treadmill running away from NO to something we believe we really want or think we need. How often could we have put that same energy into someone or something else that could really benefit from our attention? Simultaneously, how often would the quality of our lives increase from saying to hell with it?!

In my own experience I've often discovered that what I thought I wanted wasn't all that I am or all that I need, but rather my desires had become a trap I had set for myself. One can get caught up in her desires so much so that she forgets their original purpose. We can get trapped within desires that frame us as limited human beings fit for a handful of experiences in life. Unfortunately, we fail to look for all those other equally important purposes to be experienced.

Many times I have been faced with NO as a possibility. More often, NO has been my reality. Either way, there are more than two sides to every coin and in the end, none of them may have much to do with what we originally thought, planned, or believed in.

The word NO doesn't have to be the end to all roads travelled. Rather, I like to think of NO as a possibility, one of which encourages me to simply turn around and take another path. I don't mind discovering what's around the next turn even if, it just happens to be another dead end.