Don’t Be the One to Tell You No

The Summer You Stop Saying No to Yourself

Hey Darling,

It was a TikTok scroll-and-stop moment. One of those accidental soul punches from a stranger with a little too much wisdom for a Tuesday.

“Don’t be the one to tell you no.”

A counselor told him that. He was just passing it along. And now I’m passing it to you because it lit something up in me.

You know what I’ve said “no” to? Too much.

A new job.

A bold outfit.

A bigger paycheck.

A better room to stand in.

Things I wanted. Things I dreamed of. All vetoed by the tiny committee of self-doubt in my own head.

But summer does something strange to time. It opens up. The days stretch their arms wider. Possibility lingers in the air like SPF and jasmine and “what if?”

What if this season, we stopped playing defense on our own dreams?

What if we said yes to things that feel a little out of reach, a little too shiny, a little too loud? A pottery class. A new city. That business idea. That cute human you keep making eye contact with. What if you chased it like it might actually say yes back?

Because people are out here doing wild, wonderful, extraordinary things. Not because they were the most qualified, the prettiest, the richest, or the most ready. But because they didn’t tell themselves no.

Today, one of my directors looked at the little stack of quotes I keep on my desk — the ones that remind me who I am when I forget — and added this:

“Don’t let your fear be bigger and stronger than your faith.”

That one might go on the wall. Or maybe tattooed on the inside of my ribcage.

So hey. Let this be the summer you don’t shut the door on yourself. Let it be the season of small audacities. Of gentle risk. Of big, delicious yeses.

Because the only thing worse than failing is never letting yourself start.

Darling, it is summer. Why not share this with a friend?

If you want to go fast, go alone.

But if you want to go far, go together. What are we going to say yes to today? Well for me is carving out my own space on Substack.

Let’s go far this summer, saying YES!