I’ve been in the South now for 10 years. I originated from Essex but spent 15 years up in the North West where I studied for my degree and worked and lived till my marriage failed and I came back home down South to Essex.

What has this to do with “Saying ‘No’” you might ask? To a southern based UK audience you’ll understand that saying ‘no’ is not necessarily easy.   Those that come from the North may also find it challenging at times.  But the habit of talking straight and openness is more well established in our island land in the North than in the South.  If you are from the North, when you first came down South, perhaps for the first time, or like me, after many years of being away, the culture shock was realising that people didn’t say what they meant, nor mean what they said.

For me, living in the North was a lesson in honesty and straightforwardness: getting stuff done, not messing about, not taking offence nor harboring resentments. It was a great lesson for me in saying what you mean, and meaning what you say. Katherine Tate’s East London Character who’s sweet as honey to your face, but behind your back is full of cursing is a rather extreme parody but an accurate one, of how duplicitous we become when we cram too many people in too small a geographical area!

Now, I am by birth a southerner. In fact, I’m never quite sure if I’m a maid of Kent or a Kentish Maid: but Kent is where I was born. And I believe we have a lot to learn from the straightforward plain talking of people from the North of our Island. That doesn’t mean we have to adopt a West Yorkshire accent to get away with straightforward talking! But it does mean we can learn a lesson or two from being more in the here and now, worrying less about what people think of us, and saying our truth calmly and evenly.

So if you want to crank your stress levels down a bit and learn how to feel at ease with yourselves and more relaxed generally, you’ll want to download my Assertiveness and Confidence course as it becomes available in the next few weeks. I’ll keep you posted!