Let’s sit with this one slowly, like a warm cup of tea you sip when the world feels too loud.
“I deserve to take up space.”
That means: you have the right to exist fully—with all your feelings, thoughts, needs, and dreams. You don’t have to make yourself smaller so others feel more comfortable. You don’t have to tiptoe around other people’s moods, or silence your truth just to keep the peace.
Maybe you learned early on that love was something you earned by being quiet, polite, easy, or invisible. Maybe you were told not to cry so much. Not to ask for too much. Not to be a burden. So you learned to shrink—your voice, your body, your desires.
But shrinking is not healing.
Healing is expansion.
It’s letting yourself breathe freely again.
You deserve to take up space emotionally—by feeling what you feel without apologizing.
You deserve to take up space physically—by honoring your body, nourishing it, dressing it with love, resting it when tired, and not feeling ashamed of how much space you physically occupy.
You deserve to take up space mentally—by speaking your ideas, saying “no” when it’s needed, setting boundaries, and letting your thoughts matter.
Today, if you find yourself holding back or feeling like a burden, remind yourself:
“I deserve to be here. I don’t have to shrink. My presence is not a problem—it’s a gift.”
Say it out loud. Let your body hear it.