I said no before I was resentful

Dear Delyara, Usually I wait too long. I absorb one more task, one more late request, one more assumption that my time is the easiest time to take. Then I go home angry, and my family gets the exhausted version of me while the workplace gets my polite compliance. This time I noticed the edge earlier and said no while my voice was still calm and my self-respect was still intact. That felt powerful in a very ordinary way. I didn’t win anything. I didn’t storm out. I just refused to let someone else’s poor planning become my private evening again. That is enough of a victory for me.