Stop Shrinking, Start Showing Up

You soften your opinions so no one feels uncomfortable. You deflect compliments before they can land. You say yes when you mean no - and then spend twenty minutes explaining the no you finally gave. This episode is about the quiet, everyday ways women make themselves smaller. And what it looks like to gently, firmly stop.

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

• Why the habits that make women great - being thoughtful, accommodating, considerate - can quietly become habits of self-erasure
• How shrinking shows up in the smallest moments: compliments, limits, disagreements, and the sentences we say before we say what we actually mean
• The particular loneliness of women in leadership who hold space for everyone and rarely have it held for them
• Why over-explaining our boundaries is often not for other people at all, it's for us
• Three practical, small shifts you can begin using immediately: in how you receive appreciation, communicate limits, and speak your perspective
• A guided embodied practice to rehearse these shifts before the real moments arrive

TUNE IN TO LEARN

• Recognize the specific moments and patterns where you quietly shrink without realizing it
• Understand why this is a conditioning pattern, not a confidence problem
• Practice responding to a compliment with just two words: thank you
• Set a clear limit without constructing a paragraph to justify it
• Speak your perspective without a disclaimer attached
• Use a short guided practice to build muscle memory around these new responses

TAKEAWAY MESSAGE

If you have been told - by your culture, your upbringing, the rooms you've been in - that being visible, certain, or direct is somehow too much, that message was never true. It was just loud. This episode is about turning down that volume and practicing, in small and honest ways, what it actually feels like to take up the space you have always been allowed to take. Listen in, try the practice, and remember… you are always free to be mindful.

REFERENCED LINKS

1. WORK WITH VANESSA (NJ MOMS): Ready to go deeper? Book a free 15-minute therapy consultation → freetobemindful.com/contact

2. Reset Experience for Moms → amigamoms.com

3. Book Vanessa for Speaking → freetobemindful.com/speaking

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DISCLAIMER:
Free to Be Mindful Podcast episodes are for educational purposes only and should not be considered as or substituted for therapy or professional help from a licensed clinician.