{Take action} I'm just a girl who can't say no

I never was the sporty type at school.  It wasn't for want of trying, I was well aware that the sports teams were the fast-track entry to the in-crowd.  It was more that, as one of the smallest in my year, I was often last-picked for netball, hockey, (the list goes on) and so I fell out with sport.  Drama became my extra-curricular thing, with my bit-part in the school production of 'Oklahoma' the first time I tread the boards. (Front row, second in from the left: that's me.  Yes, the small one!)

I remember watching in admiration as one of the 'big girls' playing 'Ado Annie' belted out "I'm just a girl who can't say no" to the proud parents in the audience.  It's not quite so admirable now I am thirty-something 'big girl' though and still a self-professed girl who can't say no.  Worry not, it's not a "feller gettin' flirty" that's my problem - no, it's that I constantly seem to be running half an hour late for my life!  The final straw was a last-minute meeting that over-ran on the evening of my fiance's birthday.  I simply take on too much and it's got to stop! 

As far as I can, without a radical change in personality, it's a gentle goodbye to people-pleasing and hello to a new resolve to be more assertive. 

It's a lesson Ado Annie could definitely have found useful - the minx!