My son tried out for a school musical a few weeks ago. He has not been in choir and had never been in a play before. I knew he was a little nervous so I asked him how he was feeling. He said, “Well, the worst that they can tell me is yes.” It took me a minute to realize what it was he had said.
Usually, people think the worst that they can be told is no. But he had but a twist on it. He wasn’t invested in the outcome because it was something fun that he was trying out so no wasn’t horrible.
I have been thinking about this for weeks. So many times I get so stressed because I don’t want to be told no. I just know that no will mean that I failed. If I am told no then I am not good enough. But when we take the emotion out of the no there is so much less to be worried about.
Instead of looking at no as a failure we can look at it as the next step. We can see that this may not be the best answer for us and move on to the next step. We can use the no to power us on to the next step. Maybe yes really is the worst thing we can hear.
