It's Time To Take Up More Space
Spark #63 - The courage to speak up is built through action and practice
We all have those moments when we feel awkward, hold back, shrink into the background.
Doubt creeps in, confidence dips, and suddenly, you're playing small in situations where you know you could “be” so much more.
I’ve been there.
I felt invisible as a middle-aged woman at a conference in Tulum, surrounded by tech bros.
I felt irrelevant while in a conversation with corporate executives in Houston, because I "only" owned a million dollar wellness business.
That feeling of being invisible and irrelevant sucks.
It’s like you don’t matter. And that’s a lie.
We get caught in habits of shrinking, but we can also create habits of strutting.
As a yoga teacher, I tell my students to stretch to the edge of their fingertips, take up more space, own the pose. Practice this on your mat, and it’ll show up in the rest of your life.
Not into yoga? No problem. Try practicing one of these daily:
Strut. Walk in the room like you belong. Because you do.
Speak up. Say it. Even if it feels awkward.
Do the hard thing. Even if it’s uncomfortable.
And always remember:
Take up more space.
Take up more space.
Take up more space.
Because, confidence doesn’t just appear.
You build it. You take it. You live it.
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I spoke up last week and got myself misunderstood and shut down and it sucked. I had worked hard on redoing our pitch deck. The CFO returned it with his edits (removing all of mine). I was upset but instead of defending my work, I responded with what I thought was a light / humorous response which had the opposite effect of what i had intended. So this week, I'm feeling like I need to lay low - fly under the radar screen. But also feeling like I need to accomplish something as last week I withdrew to lick my wounds. I'm also a new employee so there is a sense that I need to prove myself but also feeling unmotivated. Ugh. I'm sure this will pass. Probably within the next 24 hours. Onward and upward!