Take Up Space!

As you grow into yourself, you begin to accept that no place or person can offer you absolute acceptance. Coming to terms with this reality brings a duality: you recognize the futility of chasing approval, yet you also embrace your right to take up space.

Taking up space is a shift—a homecoming in your heart and mind. It’s the moment you allow yourself to stop performing, a place of both relief and release. You accept yourself as you are and decide to let others see the real you. You know they may or may not embrace you, but you’ve chosen authenticity over appeasement. You want to know if you are loved because of who you are, not because you shrink to make others feel tall. You may even want to explore why it’s so hard for you to take up space: what happened to you?

There’s only one way to find out where you stand—in your world and in your relationships. You have to take up space, relinquish the idea that it selfish, notice what happens, and respect how the experience will re-shape your journey.

Give yourself permission to stand in your fullness and embrace being “good and grown”. Take steps like those below and notice how much performing you’ve been doing for the sake of others’ approval.

How  Can you Take Up Space?

1. When someone explains something and you don’t get it, keep asking questions until you do.
2. Embrace your right not to explain yourself.
3. Admit when you’re stuck—without pretending you have a solution. Let yourself feel it.
4. Daydream, set goals, and let yourself hope—even when what you want feels out of reach.
5. Establish small rituals that fuel your passions and growth, even if no one else values them.
6. Even if money is tight, honor the effort you put into building a life worth living.
7. Define the values that guide your decisions—and stand by them, no matter what.
8. Slow down when you feel frayed. Pause when you need a breather. Shift your pace when life demands it.
9. Shed obligations that drain you.
10. Be tactful, but clear, in your interactions.
11. End relationships that frustrate you—the ones you frequently complain about.
12. Be emotionally honest. If you’re hurt, say it. If you’re angry, don’t swallow it. If you’re joyful, let yourself feel it.
13. When you’re tired, rest.
14. Keep something for yourself. Always.
15. Let yourself experience the vulnerability of joy—celebrate your wins.
16. Regularly ask yourself: “Would I do this differently if I weren’t worried about what others think?”
17. Love fiercely. Support what matters to you. Live your values.
18. If a decision you made now leads to unwanted consequences later, don’t punish yourself over and over—you made the best choice with what you knew at the time.
19. Break up with guilt. Commit to continuous growth instead.
20. Face the challenges that keep tripping you up.