NO, NO, NO, NO, NO,

If you're an approval addict or people-pleaser like me, I'm writing this especially to you.

You see, I'm a person who didn't like saying "No".

For the longest time, that word wasn't even in my vocabulary.

For years, I never showed my anger to anyone. After years of smiling even if I was offended, there came a point when I didn't even feel anger anymore. I simply shut it out of my life. (Believe me, I thought I was very holy

because of this. Not realizing I was emotionally a mess deep within.)

I had an approval addiction so powerful, it ruled every decision I made.

Why? Because I was desperate for people to like me.

When someone didn't like me, I died within..

I didn't love myself.

I had an abysmal low-self worth.

So I tried to please everyone in everyway.

I abhorred any kind of conflict.

Oh yes, I was a mess.

And one of the ways of making them love me was to always say "Yes."

I never knew that saying "Yes" all the time was actually saying "No" to an abundant life.

So I tolerated all the difficult people and emotional vampires on the planet: Control-Freaks. Drama-Queens. Nut-Cases.. Rage-aholics. Irresponsible Jerks. Hyper-sensitive people. Possessive Parasites. You name the

difficult person, I pleased each one of them—just to keep the peace. But the false peace came with a price: I was throwing away my inner peace. My self-respect. My self-worth.