Sometimes doing the nice thing is anything but nice. The ability to say no, unless it involves my children, is something I have yet to master. Hell, I haven't even gotten any real practice with it.
The thing is, I try to keep an open mind and welcome new experiences, because I know growth requires challenging boundaries. And of course, being a good and accepting person, requires faith and the willingness to risk comfort. Sometimes I find I push myself well beyond risking comfort and I end up in situations that quickly become uncomfortable.
Beyond that discomfort is the realization that I often forgo opportunities to say no to avoid difficult honesties. I don't lie well, but I'm not always as truthful as I should be. It isn't always about sparing someone's feelings, it's often more about staying inside your own comfort zone. That comfort can be misleading, because not being honest initially just makes it tough when the next opportunity presents itself. And undesirable situations are born.
All the discomfort I thought I might avoid magnifies and takes on a life of its own unless I finally do what I should have when I thought I was being nice. It's not nice to myself to suppress how I feel, and it's not nice to whomever the other party is no matter what I might initially think. Difficult as it may be, honest is the only way to go. It may take the nice out of things, but if there is no ill-will it can't be all that bad.
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