Supernova Descending

No is a decision. A boundary; a setting of stone; a laying of brick with cement.
Yes, someone else could punch through it. But it would take might or machine. Bloody knuckles. 

No is a decision to say Yes to something else instead. 

We defend through No.
We clarify through No.
We uphold through No. 

And there can be too much No.
Too much protection, armor, heavy cement.

But most of us struggle with too much Yes. 
Too little protection. Too naked. Too porous. 

No is a decision to make decisions for yourself. 
To not let others make them for you. 

No is negative, but it’s also a net positive. 
No is the only negative that actually is a positive. 

No is a decision now that creates value, freedom, choices later. 

That’s the tricky tradeoff:
No is pain for gain. 

But many of us can’t do it, can’t say it, can’t live it. 
We’ve been trained out of the No instinct. 
Sharing is caring. Be nice. Be pleasant. Be agreeable. Say “Yes And..”

In the film version of In The Heights
Vanessa bursts onto the screen in a supernova of No-No-No-No 

No is descended from supernova. 
The brightest explosion. Maximum luminosity. One billion times the sun.

No is the unfurled power of a star. 
To illuminate, clarify, harness, focus.  

No is a decision. One not everyone can make or will make. Or will even try. 
No is endurance. The tolerance of discomfort for a greater good. 

No closes a door. It can shut others out.
It turns us away from something in order to turn towards something else.

No doles out an opportunity to someone else:
To feel fear, hurt, rejection.
To learn from that
or to repeat; retreat
And maybe even sow seeds of future revenge against you. 

Or maybe instead:
The earth will rotate a few times. 
An exploding star will cast out another shadow.

And they will move on and try again.

And so will you. 

[This almost-a-poem-post is a lightly edited excerpt from something I wrote during a recent Write Club--where we get together online and use prompts and “automatic writing” to train our brains to write with more power and more heat. When I revisit a raw piece of writing that has “heat,” I play with it a bit more, and then I publish it. And while it’s not the standard form for a “startup leadership blog post”--I hope you find it helpful in some way.]

No is descended from supernova.

The brightest explosion. Maximum luminosity.
One billion times the sun.

No is the unfurled power of a star.

To illuminate, clarify, harness, focus.  

Photo Credits: Aziz Acharki and Tengyart