If you asked my child what my favorite word was, without hesitation, he would respond: “no.” “No” has been my go-to word for a while now. I felt a certain sense of pride in saying no when asked to do things I didn’t want to do, things I felt infringed on my personal time and space. Being raised by two independent women taught me to speak my truth long before it was some kind of personal development rally cry. And my truth was usually “No.” Did I want to get together? Nope. Did I want to volunteer for something? Um, not really.