The Wishy-Washy No

I asked a dear friend
if she wanted to
have lunch.

She must have given me
a dozen reasons
why she couldn’t do that.

I tried to accommodate her,
at first,
offering different dates,
different restaurants
until I realized…

She wasn’t yet ready
to eat in a restaurant.

She merely didn’t want to
or couldn’t
communicate that
likely because
it was an emotional reason.

There’s no combatting
emotional reasons
with logic.

Her mind was made up.
She wasn’t listening
to my pushback.
I accepted her decision
and moved on.

Seth Godin
shares

“A meandering no
doesn’t turn into
a yes
because someone with a good idea
listened very carefully
to every spoken objection
and rationally and clearly countered it.

Because the objections aren’t real,
and the naysayer isn’t listening
very hard to the responses.”

Often a wishy-washy no
isn’t a no
for the reasons stated.
It is often emotional.

Logic won’t sway that decision.