Learning the Power Of Saying No.

Good day, people of Hive! Welcome to my blog. Today's topic is from Hive-Reachout which says: "The Power of Saying No". So let's dive in.

We all live in a world where people care too much about what others think. Many times, we do things not because we want to, but because we are scared of disappointing people, especially those who are close to us. Saying Yes has become so common that saying No feels almost impossible. Some people, because they don’t want to disappoint those close to them, always say Yes even when they don’t want to. The funniest part is that always saying yes can put us into situations where we later regret it or even endanger ourselves.

I have this friend who doesn’t come to school regularly. She’s a hairstylist, and she always puts her work as her first priority instead of school. The only time she comes is when she feels like it. Meanwhile, the school authority has instructed all lecturers to make attendance mandatory, and every student must have up to 75% attendance. Whenever a lecturer comes to teach us in class, they usually tell our Course Rep to collect the attendance of those present. After class, some lecturers even call out all the names to make sure we didn’t help our friends sign attendance. Although not all lecturers do this, a few are very strict about it.

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So anytime my friend was not coming to school, she would call or message me on WhatsApp to help her with her attendance. It all started when she called me one day and said she wouldn’t come because she had stomach pain. Out of kindness, I helped her that time. But from that day, it became her everyday routine. Anytime she was absent, she would look for an excuses just so I could help her write her name. Because she was my friend, saying No was difficult for me—I didn’t want to disappoint her.

One day, she called again, asking me to help her with her attendance. This time, with courage, I told her, No, I’m not helping you. She was surprised because I had never told her no before. She tried to convince me, but I stood my ground and said no, then ended the call. I knew I couldn’t allow her to implicate me.

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The reason I said no was because one of our lecturers, Dr. Adegoke, came to class and, before starting, warned us not to help our friends sign attendance. After teaching, he collected the attendance sheet and started calling out our names. Out of seventy-eight students in class, he saw eighty-five names. That means some people had helped their friends. He asked those who signed for others to stand, but nobody did. Somehow, he already knew the students maybe by handwriting or some other way. He called them out one by one, and when he asked if they had helped their friends, they confessed because they were caught red-handed. Without wasting time, he deducted 20 marks from each of their scores, saying no lecturers would beg him to change his mind. Since then, I made up my mind never to help anyone with attendance again. And the funniest part is that, that my friend was present during Dr Adegoke class and saw what happened.

Looking back, that single No saved me a lot, because now even the lecturers who didn’t use to call names have started calling names. Whenever they catch any student helping their friends, they either cancel both names or use one as a scapegoat by canceling their name and leaving the friend’s name.

From that day, I realized that saying No does not make us bad or selfish. It simply means we know our limits and respect ourselves.

The power of saying no is something every one of us needs. It gives us peace of mind and helps us focus on what truly matters. Life is full of choices, and not every choice is good for us. For me, the moment I told my friend no was a big eye-opener. Saying no is not about being rude or selfish—it’s about being wise enough to choose what won’t harm me.

This is my entry for the Hive-Reachout Weekly Prompt 62

Thanks for reading💞💞💞💞💞.