How many times in a day do you say “yes” to things you don’t actually want to do? Three times? Five? Whether this response is due to the guilt of saying the dreaded word “no,” or fear of what might happen if you decline, many people say “yes” too often.

We, as high schoolers, as Burroughs students, commonly find ourselves accepting more tasks than we can handle. These time-consuming commitments can take different forms, such as being on multiple sports teams, taking too many hard classes, or even hanging out with lots of friends in one weekend.

Our almost innate response to answer “yes” to the things we are asked to do can also be triggered by societal pressure. For example, if someone is asked by another person to an event such as Blue and Gold, the answer is almost always “yes” (if they don’t already have a date). Even if that person may not truly want to attend the dance with their pursuer, it would be socially unacceptable at Burroughs to decline.

Furthermore, we are sometimes found agreeing without question. Traditions, like wearing white gowns and suits at graduation, continue simply because it’s tradition. We do these things not necessarily because we want to, but because we see them as another thing we must do. This phenomenon applies to saying ‘yes’ to signing up for a club at the activities fair. We all need to be aware that sometimes it is truly okay to say “no.”

So, to test this theory I decided to go a full school week saying “yes” only to the things I actually wanted to do.

Once my week of saying “no” began, I was excited to see if/how my day to day life would change. Much to my surprise, for the first two days, not much happened. I wasn’t offered any task or invitation to do anything I didn’t want to do, but on the third day, I came across something. As I was going into the cardio room for fitness after school, I received a text from my mom asking if I had any interest in being an intern at a local theater company over the summer. Typically, I would go home and talk about it for a while before most likely convincing myself to apply. However this time, I responded with a simple, “No I don’t think so, not this summer.”

Though my answer was simple, the consequences of saying yes would have been intense. I could have been faced with three months of work, missed out on other summer activities, and spread myself far too thin. Declining the potential offer was far easier than I thought, and I’m glad I passed on taking part in the internship.

After thinking this text exchange over, I realized that it truly isn’t too hard to say no to the things you don’t want to do, whether its as serious as a job offer or even just telling your friend that, “No, I don’t want to leave my lunch table to go to the bathroom with you today.” Though I didn’t have many more chances to utilize my newfound power of “no” throughout the week, the task did help me think about the things that I really did and did not want to do.

Even just considering the fact that you have a voice to make your own choices is empowering, so I would recommend you try to focus on considering your decisions now before making them. Of course, you must be polite, and should not go tell your teachers that you, “don’t really feel like writing that term paper” or that maybe you’ll “do the homework tomorrow.” Also, remember that saying yes to things can bring incredible new experiences along with it. I am simply asserting that you should consider what things you seriously want to do/try, and should not just give the other person the response they want to hear simply because you feel pressured to do so.

We should be grateful that we are able to make all kinds of choices by ourselves every day, and I believe that the best way to respect the right to making our own decisions is by understanding the power of the words “yes” and “no.”