Brave is Saying No

As a new mother on maternity leave, and an introverted homebody, I'm really enjoying this season of being home and being 100% present for my little family and the slow pace of life on maternity leave.  After you've had a baby, social pressures seem to go away. I'm not entirely sure if that pressure is real or self imposed or a mixture of both, but I certainly feel it most of the time.

I'm not good at saying no. I'm a recovering people pleaser and saying no is hard! But this season of life after baby has been so life giving and refreshing for me and for us! I love people, but for me being around people is tiring. I need time to myself and time with just my little family at home because that is where I feel re energized and refreshed.

As I've been pondering what it looks like as my maternity leave comes to an end to re enter into life with regular social interactions (work, and small group, and social outings that are more than people asking to come see me in my home and help take care of me and my baby), I came across this post from a blog I follow about how saying no is brave, which is actually a book review for this book that I have not read and thus cannot recommend.  So yes, I am basically writing a blog review of a book review- a review of a review! I feel like I get a fresh start with this. I get to re enter to social realm choosing what I'll say yes to and what I'll say no to, and I plan to be much more intentional about protecting our family time-for my sake, and for my husbands sake, and for the sake of our new little guy, because that time is so important and life giving to us. It's not going to be easy, and I'm not quite sure what it looks like yet, but I'm ready for the challenge!

What does brave look like to you? Are you a people pleaser afraid to say no?