If you are anything like me, then you are always the first person to offer help to someone in need. The thing is, though, there is a big difference between offering your support on your own and feeling like you need to say yes to someone that you don’t actually feel good about. Doing a favor is one of the most rewarding and natural things in the world, but only when it feels right. Here are five times when you should say no when someone asks you for a favor.
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1. Change of Plans
If doing the favor requires you to change plans of your own, then you haven’t got your self-care priorities straight. Obviously, a really serious emergency might be different, but if the favor is just a generic task, then there is no reason that you should be limiting your own life and choices to fulfil the wishes of another person.
2. Short Notice
If the favor is a significant one, and you are given less than 24 hours’ notice, then you are better off saying no. The instinct is to always say yes to help out a friend, but you aren’t going to have enough time to sort yourself out and make plans to cover your own responsibilities elsewhere, then saying no the favor really is the more sensible and logical option.
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3. Uncomfortable
Just because they are your friend, it doesn’t mean you have to do what they say. If the favor that is being asked of you is something that makes you uncomfortable, then you are at no obligation to say yes. In fact, if they were a true friend, they would have already known that the favor in question would have made you uncomfortable, and they wouldn’t have put you in that position in the first place.
4. Overwhelmed
If you are already in a period in your life where you are feeling overwhelmed by your own circumstances, then you have every right not to take anyone else’s. You always have to think about yourself first, for your mental and physical health’s sake.
5. Resentment
If doing this favor for one friend is going to lead to some sort of problem or resentment for another friend, then you are better off removing yourself from the situation entirely. Life is too short to be making enemies out of people who you should be partying with!
