I am a Yes Girl

This blog has been a long time coming, but it feels very relevant now...

Back in 2011/2012, I read 'Yes Man' by Danny Wallace and it sounds cheesy, but I was really inspired by his message.

Now don't get me wrong, I have no grand ambitions to say yes to every single thing that someone asks me to do. For instance in the book, I found it bizarre, if not verging on irritating when he decided to travel all the way to Amsterdam in search of someone who asked him for his bank details over the internet. Now I'm not so naive as to not realise that the innocent tone in which he wrote that particular passage was intended to heighten his sarcasm and the hilarity of the situation. However, I am assuming that the book is founded mainly in truth, like a memoir, and therefore I cannot believe that someone would do something so stupid just because he decided to say yes to everything/because he thought it would make a good book. He must have wasted a lot of time and energy and if I were him, I would have found it more disheartening than enlightening.

However, the book did cause me to reflect upon how often I say no to things in my own life. This was particularly poignant back in 2011, when I was a stubborn 17 year old starting her A2 year, in a very new relationship. I suppose in a time of so much obligatory change, I wanted to do my best to keep control of my life by sticking to my guns, despite my opinions being questioned by my new boyfriend and by the changes in my life. For example, I believed I wanted to go to Cambridge University, but I never stopped to ask myself why. I just wanted to go because it was I always wanted. However, when I failed to get in and had to make the decision as to whether I wanted to reapply or not, I found I did want to go for reasons other than just because it was what I expected of myself.

As I am now, once again, facing a big change in my life (MOVING TO UNIVERSITY!), I think now is the time to try to undertake the challenge that tempted me two years ago...

I want to become....

a yes girl.

I want to start saying yes to more things. A few weeks ago, I worriedly asked my boyfriend if he thought I could get away without going clubbing when I'm at Uni, because when I've been once before I didn't particularly enjoy it. He basically told me in no uncertain terms that doing so would make me seem like a massive spoil sport and he reminded me that this is a time that I can try new things and really find out what makes Verity tick, because everything is subsidised and the kinds of people I'm going to be mixing with...well there is no specific kind of person! According to everyone I've spoken to who has been to university, it's a time when people are much less judgmental; I suppose because everyone is in the same boat, trying to find out who they are as an independent adult.

With this in mind, I don't want to say yes to everything. That would be incredibly impractical. However, I do want to say yes to more things, in particular things that I am afraid of or things that I think might not interest me. I have already started by deciding to take my bike with me to uni and bike to lectures, despite not having ridden a bike for 2 years. I have also purchased a pair of jogging bottoms and trainers for the first time ever in order to increase the likelihood of my trying sports at uni. And...I bought a new bag that's small enough only for essentials and has a zipped pocket for my ID and money....so that I can go out clubbing. I don't mean to say that I'm going to force myself to do things that I REALLY don't want to do. Nor will I say yes to things that will endanger my education/health (e.g. illegal drugs, too much alcohol, or even poorly timed outings and trips). And I won't be saying yes to prince from Albania who wants to send me £2million. But, I will be saying yes to things that I wouldn't usually say yes to. At university, I want to try lots of new things and discover who I am really am as a person.

And for anyone who actually got to the end of that, I'm sorry for the cheese fest. :-)