Saying 'no' is a 'yes' for you!
Freedom grants the opportunity for greater meaning, but by itself there is nothing necessarily meaningful about it. Ultimately, the only way to achieve meaning and a sense of importance in one's life is through a rejection of alternatives, a narrowing of freedom, a choice of commitment to one place, one belief, or one person. The belief that we should try to be as inherently accepting and affirmative as possible, say yes to everything and everyone and so on. But we need to reject something. Otherwise, we stand for nothing. If nothing is better or more desirable than anything else, then we are empty anf our life is meaningless. The avoidance of rejection is often sold to us as a way to make ourselves feel better. But avoiding rejection gives us short-term pleasure. To truely appreciate something, you must confine yourself. The act of choosing a value for yourself requires rejecting alternative values. If I'm choosing to judge myself based on my ability to have ...