The Wildflower Journal

I Give Myself Permission to Take Up Space

I think a lot of us spend far too much of our lives trying not to be too much.
Too loud. Too emotional. Too opinionated. Too excited. Too ambitious. Too sensitive. Too different.
Somewhere along the way, we learn to edit ourselves. We make ourselves a little quieter, a little easier, a little more agreeable. We hold back what we really want to say. We downplay the things we’re proud of. We apologise for having boundaries, needs and feelings. Sometimes we even shrink our dreams because we’re worried somebody else might think they’re ridiculous.
And after doing it for long enough, you can almost forget that you’re doing it at all.
I’ve definitely spent parts of my life making myself smaller to fit into spaces I’d already outgrown. I’ve worried about what people would think. I’ve questioned whether I should say something, post something, wear something or do something because somebody somewhere might have an opinion about it.
I’m slowly learning that somebody will always have an opinion.
So what?
I’m 40 years old. I don’t want to spend the next chapter of my life constantly checking whether everybody else is comfortable with the amount of space I’m occupying.
I want to laugh loudly when something is funny. I want to dress in ways that make me feel good. I want to talk about the things I’m passionate about without pretending I don’t care that much. I want to build something I’m proud of and be able to say, look what I made, without immediately finding a way to minimise it.
I want to say no without writing an essay explaining why.
I want to say yes to things simply because they make me happy.
And I want to be able to change, grow, try something new, get something wrong, change my mind and start again without feeling as though I owe everyone an explanation.
Because taking up space isn’t about believing you’re more important than anybody else.
It’s recognising that you’re just as important.
There is room for other people’s voices without silencing your own. There is room for other people’s success without hiding yours. There is room for kindness without becoming a people pleaser, and there is room for compassion without abandoning your own boundaries.
You don’t have to become smaller for somebody else to feel bigger.
And maybe that’s something you need reminding of today.
Wear the thing.
Share the idea.
Post the photo.
Apply for the opportunity.
Start the project.
Say what you mean.
Laugh too loudly.
Get excited.
Love what you love.
Let yourself be seen.
You don’t need to wait until you’re more confident, more successful, more healed or more acceptable to somebody else.
You’re already allowed to be here exactly as you are.
So today’s affirmation is a simple one:
I give myself permission to take up space.
And I’m going to try to remember that taking up space doesn’t mean demanding the whole room.
It just means I’m finally going to stop standing in the corner of my own life.

Daily Affirmation – I give myself permission to take up space

Nova Rising Soul