Why Do I Feel Bad Saying No? Examining Your Guilt & Self-Worth
Your schedule is tight. You’ve got a to-do list with a thousand items on it. You’re behind on your own work. You’re running late. You haven’t spent any time on yourself. Family matters and logistics add fuel to the fire. On a particularly bad day, you may even experience all of the above simultaneously. Just when you think you’re carrying more than you can handle, a request comes your way. A friend, coworker, manager or someone else asks for a favor. They haven’t got time to take care of a task or tend to a particular matter – they ask you to do it instead. Although you’re at your wits’ end, you begrudgingly say “yes”. The requestor feels relief, while you feel more stressed than before. “But I feel bad saying no! What should I do?”. In this article, we’ll be discussing the reasons we feel guilty saying no and what to do about it.