ontheedgeofeverything

I read an interesting statistic recently. Granted, this statistic was depicted via an account on Instagram, so I can’t exactly verify its actuality, but if I had to guess, I would believe it to be true.

The statistic in question stated that millennials, as a generation, are people pleasers, meaning we have a hard time telling people no when we are asked to do something. The video explained that the reason millennials have people pleasing so deeply engrained in their conscience is because of the ways in which we were brought up and raised by, generally speaking, baby boomer parents. The reason I said I believe this claim to be true is that I strongly relate to it, meaning I, personally, experience a lot of guilt when I tell people no.

I should probably stipulate that this fact isn’t insinuating that millennials should constantly say no, regardless of the matter. That would be rather ridiculous, and entirely unrealistic to boot. I think the message being projected is that millennials encounter a lot of guilt in saying no to people to the point that we are agreeing to things we know we cannot complete or will accept because we don’t want to let anyone down.

Sound familiar?

Furthermore, I find it interesting that generations below millennials truly don’t give a shit and will say no whenever they deem it necessary. I suppose this approach to the matter has both pros and cons, as does anything, but I can applaud folks that possess the confidence to say no to things if they know saying yes simply isn’t feasible and are only doing so to avoid upsetting anyone.

If someone requests something of you and you really don’t want to say yes, you ultimately don’t have to, nor should you. We shouldn’t feel bad for saying no to people if it means we are doing ourselves some good.