Saying No

Saying no to yourself.   Respecting your own limits.  Protecting your own limits.  Learning when we really need to say, *I'll pass* on that.  Maybe it is passing on that horror flick because we know it will mess with our head.  It might be not watching that suspense film right before bed.  Or the old standby, not having the cake with the ice cream.  We all have our limits.  I think many of us don't protect ourselves the way we could.  We fail to respect our own limits.
I have talked about this before.  About needing to be our own parent.  It is really about taking good care of ourselves.  It is pretty easy to think of this in the physical sense.  We are bombarded by ads telling us all about taking care of our physical bodies.  What about emotionally, mentally, spiritually?  We are much more than a physical body.
For myself, I need to be careful about what I choose to read or watch.  As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, it is more important to me to protect myself from some of the information that is out there.  I need to respect myself and know with as much certainty as possible, where my limits are on what I can take in.  Books, movies and news articles about childhood sexual abuse are likely to go unseen by me.  As parent to myself I do my best to protect that limit.  The limit being to avoid triggering too many memories.  Since I know those things can still trigger me, I protect myself as much as possible.  That doesn't mean it is forever.  It is not a permanent *no*  What I can and cannot handle emotionally, changes as I do.  Some days are better than others.  It is about knowing myself and being honest with myself.
Saying no to myself isn't about restriction and punishment.  It is all about loving and protecting myself.  Getting a handle on that has helped my growth tremendously.