Saying "Hell, Yeah!" To Life - Guest Post

Dena Harris, Author

Please welcome Dena Harris, as our guest post today. I spotted this post over at her blog and it just felt like one of those "things I wish I had said from the pulpit." I asked her to share it here - she said "Hell, Yeah!" Enjoy.

I bought a pineapple last week and cut it up for Blair. (Betcha didn't think this post would start like this, did you? Ha! Keep reading.) This morning he mentioned something about the pineapple and I said, "Yeah, I took a bite of it. It's not bad."

"I think we need to watch how we phrase things," said Blair. "'It's not bad,' is not a very enthusiastic way of saying something is good."

He's right. And the Universe is sending me signals to watch my language. Just last night I had dinner with my friend Melody who informed me about a blog she'd read about saying "Hell Yeah!" to life. The writer, she explained, said that too many of us go around settling in life and that he had decided if he couldn't answer, "Hell Yeah!" to whatever person, situation, or choice was put in front of him, the answer would be "no." 

I googled "saying 'hell yeah' to life" and found this post by Derek Sivers. Read it. Here's the opening to tempt you:

Those of you who often over-commit or feel too scattered may appreciate a new philosophy I'm trying:

If I'm not saying “HELL YEAH!” about something, then say no.

Meaning: When deciding whether to commit to something, if I feel anything less than, “Wow! That would be amazing! Absolutely! Hell yeah!” - then my answer is no.

When you say no to most things, you leave room in your life to really throw yourself completely into that rare thing that makes you say “HELL YEAH!”

He goes on to give excellent examples of how he's put this new philosophy to work. Blair and I were talking this morning about what a difference such an attitude should could bring. For example:  

• Want to go exercise? It's not, "Yeah, I guess I should," it's "Hell yeah I do!"
• Chinese for dinner? Hell yeah!
• Go for a walk? Hell yeah!
• Crank out some writing this morning? Hell yeah! 

 But how will this work on things we maybe really don't feel like saying "Hell yeah!" to but that have to be done anyway? I still think the philosophy will work. Suppose I don't feel like cleaning the house. If I stop for a moment and think about why I like a clean house--it puts me in a good mood, calms my mind, makes me feel organized, I like knowing everything is in its place, I work better when the house is in order--then maybe I can work myself up to a "Hell yeah, I do want to clean the house because I want all those things that follow!"

Anyway, there's going to be a lot of cursing around the Harris household this week because we're going to embrace the hell yeah way of life. 

Did you enjoy this blog post? If so, let me get a "HELL YEAH!!!" ;)

Cheers,

Dena