I know what you’re thinking. This sounds like the start of a clickbait YouTube Video. However, I recently went on (and kind of still am participating in) a “Yes Spree”, and I’d recommend it.
What might you gain from going on a “Yes Spree”? For me, I branched out and met new people. I’d never had a bad date before, but I now know what that’s like. My initial inspiration for going on this spree: gaining stories for the plot of your life. Winter quarter is one of the dullest quarters in the school year so why not spice it up?
Here are my guidelines:
- You are able to reject anything that you feel uncomfortable with. If someone gives you a proposition of any sort and you want absolutely no part of it, you can say no.
- If you are hesitant to say no because there’s any part of you that wants to say yes, you should say yes. Worst-case scenario, you leave the situation early.
- There’s a reason why this rule is last. If some obligation is holding you back from saying yes, do everything in your power to move that obligation or take the hit and go. In this context, I understand that there are obligations that you must fulfill. However, if homework or studying is holding you back, then say yes. There will always be an exam to study for, but you will never get your youth back. Believe in yourself and the ability for you to get your work done on time. Everything will work out the way it is supposed to.
From my rules, you can probably tell that you must know yourself relatively well in order to know if you should go on a “Yes Spree”. But embarking on a “Yes Spree” can also help you get to know yourself better. You should at least be aware of what you’re comfortable with and where your boundaries are to participate in this practice. Who knows? You could find out that something you previously didn’t really like is, surprisingly something you might enjoy.
If you’re inherently a people pleaser who says yes to everything, my “Yes Spree” may not be the best thing for you. You may want to alter this to, “What do I really want to say yes to? What can I practice saying no to?” In my case, I also used to be a people pleaser by doing what others expected of me. My spree was about doing what I wanted to do, but maybe I held back on saying Yes more because of how others perceived me. At the end of the day, we’re two sides of the same coin, but we need to say yes to ourselves.
Although cheesy, saying yes has allowed me to be more positive and open to new experiences. If I didn’t go on that bad date, I would have no baseline for knowing what a bad date looks like. I also had a lot of preconceived opinions and thoughts about things both good and bad. Getting my own lived experience about those things allowed me to form my own opinions.
I think going on a “Yes Spree” changed how I view new experiences and has made me more open to embracing them rather than shutting them down. At the end of the day, I would rather make my own mistakes and learn from them than taking other people’s word for it.