When No Means Yes

Condescending Lemur knows how to say no, albeit condescendingly.

Too often frugality is incorrectly viewed as “giving up,” when the real point of frugality is “getting what you really really want.” […] The main point of frugality – and perhaps life – is to recognize what brings you the greatest rewards and to go enthusiastically for those things. […] If you as a person truly derive great pleasure from something, the frugal behavior is to “go for it” – enthusiastically and whole hog. […] What is given up means little compared with the pleasure of the better choices. – Tom Petersik

So skipping stuff that ultimately hurts you, to get what you want most, isn’t self-denial: it’s just taking care of yourself in the best possible way.

Wow. This is one of those things I need to read over and over. I never looked at things this way before. But it’s so obvious.

Who knew I’d get profound life advice from a DIY blog? But I find the best things where I’d never look, and I think that’s the point. We have to trust that we’ll happen upon the things that’ll get us where we need to go. Because we do. We don’t need to grasp at everything. We can say no. We HAVE to say no. 

“…I have learned, in whatever situation I find myself, to be self-sufficient. I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me.”

Philippians 4:11-13