Permission Slip Not Required: How To Re-claim Your Voice.

Most women don't lack power; we've been trained to believe we do through years of conditioning that teaches us to shrink, soften, and wait for permission that never comes.

• Waiting for confidence, perfect timing, or external approval keeps us stuck in cycles of self-betrayal
• The painful truth is that no one is coming to give us permission or announce it's "our turn" 
• Realizing "I am my own green light" is the turning point that changes everything
• Power begins with claiming small spaces through everyday actions
• Speak up in conversations where you'd normally stay silent
• Say no to things that drain you without guilt or explanation
• Do something just for yourself without justifying it to anyone
• True power isn't about volume but clarity and standing in your truth
• You don't need to feel ready to begin, you ARE the beginning

Take this as your sign. Your power starts now, in your ordinary, messy, unfinished life.

Chapters

• 0:38 Welcome to Woman's Power Unfiltered
• 1:31 Most Women Don't Lack Power
• 3:09 Years of Putting Myself on Hold
• 5:42 Power Starts with Space
• 8:25 You Are the Beginning

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:19

Welcome to a Woman's Power Unfiltered podcast. I'm Victoria, strategist, performer, single mum, survivor and businesswoman, and a while ago I decided that I am not shrinking anymore. Now, this isn't a podcast full of motivational quotes. I love a quote, I really do but you're not gonna find that that here. This is where we speak the truth, you know, that type of truth that I think most women actually do keep to themselves. So if you're tired of just playing small, keeping the peace like I think we all do at some point and waiting for a green light that never actually comes, Then sit tight, because power starts here. So let's get one thing straight Most women don't lack power.

Speaker 1: 1:23

We've just been trained that way, bit by bit, in how we speak, how we dress things up, you know, just to make others feel more comfortable, how we soften our truths, how we say, oh, I'm fine, I'm fine when we're actually anything but anything. But we're taught to wait, to wait until we feel confident, wait until the kids are older or we've lost weight Now, that's a really personal one for me and we're taught to wait until, you know, maybe things settle down. And the thing is let me tell you this, yeah. And the thing is let me tell you this yeah, things rarely settle down. This is life. As cliche as it might sound, life is a roller coaster and it is. Confidence doesn't come first, and I've realised this now. It really doesn't. You build it by starting before you actually feel ready. It doesn't just miraculously appear. Power doesn't arrive wrapped in permission. You claim it and you create it. It is honestly the only way, and that's what this podcast is about. Not perfection, not performance, just power. Easy, it's just power Claims, step by step. Let me tell you something real.

Speaker 1: 2:55

I spent years putting myself on hold, and when I say years, I mean I would say over 25 years. There were many reasons why I did that. I'll do that when I'm slimmer. I'll speak up when I feel more. I'll go after it once everyone else is okay. Does that sound familiar? I'm thinking that a lot of you are going to be listening to this right now and you're going to be saying, yes, you might be in the car, in kitchen, I don't know, chilling on a beach, but I think you're going to be saying, yeah, that does. It does sound familiar.

Speaker 1: 3:42

I used to think that if I kept being good and nice and accommodating, eventually someone would notice, eventually my turn would come. But it doesn't work like that. Here's what I learned there is no turn unless you take it and you grab it with both hands. No one's coming to give you permission to show up, no one's holding you a moment that suddenly makes it all click. You're either in it so that you can decide it's time or you just stay stuck waiting. And that's what I did.

Speaker 1: 4:26

And the worst part, no one tells you how soul-crushing it is to betray yourself slowly. Think about that line there. No one tells you how soul-crushing it is to betray yourself slowly. And now look at your own life and see where that fits in, because you probably will. You'll probably fit it in somewhere. You know to feel your own voice go quiet, to feel your spark dull a little bit more each year, while you keep telling yourself not, not yet, just not yet. I won't do it yet.

Speaker 1: 5:06

Until one day I realized I've been living half a life because I was waiting for someone to wave a flag and say, oh, you're ready now, or oh, you weigh a certain stone. Now you, you can go and do it. No, no. And then it hit me. I'm the bloody flag, I'm the green light. We are all our own green light. It's just we don't realize it, and sometimes people don't realize it until it's too bloody late.

Speaker 1: 5:44

So if this is hitting home for you, if you're thinking, oh my god, that's me, I want to offer you something very, very simple today. Not a to-do list, not a five-step plan. I'm not giving you homework, just this. Power starts with space. Let that hit home in your head. Power starts with space. Claim one piece of space this week. Speak up in a conversation, say no to something that drains you.

Speaker 1: 6:22

I always used to be a yes person. Once I started to say no to the things that actually I really did want to say no to, my life improved, but don't say no to everything. Because I also did that as well, I started saying no to everything and then I was like hang on a minute, I have no balance here. I need to say yes to some things. So it is about balance. Do something that's just for you and don't explain yourself. I don't know how many times I've done something for myself and felt guilt and then I've said to one of my friends and they're like why are you feeling guilty? I'm like, oh, I don't know. I just I just am Because I kind of conditioned myself, that I kind of, I guess I just I condition my mind into thinking I should be doing for everyone else, but you have to do for yourself as well. And also, like I say, don't explain it. That's it.

Speaker 1: 7:29

That's the first step, not a grand declaration, you know, just one small step, quiet moment, where you stop handing your life away in pieces, because you know, know, power isn't about volume, it's about clarity, it's about balance, about knowing what's yours and standing in it without apology. So here's what I want to leave you with you don't have to feel ready to begin, you are the beginning. If you've been waiting for a sign, look, take this as a sign. This is it? Not a whisper, not a hint, a straight up declaration. Power starts here, not when you're fixed, not when you're finished, not when everyone claps for you. Now, in your ordinary, messy, unfinished life. This is how it happens. This is your space now, and I'm so glad that you are here. This is a woman's power, unfiltered. This is a woman's power, unfiltered. I'm victoria strange, and I'll see you in the next episode, where we stop playing small and we start playing real.