How To Chase Your Dreams Without Waiting For Permission

In this episode, we talk about giving yourself permission to pursue your dreams, trust your ideas, and stop waiting for external validation to begin. Your voice has value, your movement has value, and your story matters.

I open up about the fears creatives face: rejection, self-doubt, comparison, and the inner voice asking, “Who do you think you are?” I share how I learned to move that voice aside, follow where the energy flows, trust my intuition, and keep showing up for the goals and creative passions that won’t leave me alone. Sometimes the dreams that keep returning to us aren’t random — they may be pointing us toward our purpose.

If you’re a dancer, actor, artist, entrepreneur, creator, or anyone navigating fear while chasing a big dream, this episode will remind you to trust yourself, own your authenticity, and take the next step forward.

Thank you so much for being here! If you are enjoying the show, it would mean so much if you please follow Essence Embodied, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a rating and review! Thank you!

You can keep up with Tyne on instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/tynestecklein?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

View her website here:

https://tynesteckleinartdesigns.com/

Join Tyne's email list here: https://shy-band-100.myflodesk.com/mrxyszsu5h

I'd like to say a massive thank you to my editor and dear friend, Nikki Dalonzo, for supporting me on this journey! 

Transcript

Welcome

Speaker 0:00

Welcome to Essence Embodied by Tyne Stecklein, a podcast to help you own your authenticity and ground in to your self-worth so that you can create a life that you love. You are joining me in my hotel room today, not in my usual setup, but I've got a beautiful view in front of me and I'm feeling inspired to talk and record this episode. I encourage you if you have a moment to just get kind of cozy and take in some natural beauty around you while we have this conversation to do so. I was on a shuttle going to the airport recently and I noticed a tip jar up by the driver. I was reminded, oh yeah, this service has value. This person is working very hard and they deserve to be recognized for that work that they're putting in. So the tip jar is a reminder that this has worth and you can choose to acknowledge that worth. But

The Tip Jar Metaphor For Dreams

Speaker 1:04

it got me thinking about our dreams and our ambitions and our wants for ourselves and our life. The idea that no one is going to put a tip jar down for you and your dreams, except for yourself. Your dreams have value. Your voice deserves to be heard. Your movement deserves to be seen. Your fill in the blank. I could give many examples. The idea that I want to talk about is how we have to give ourselves permission to go for what we want. No one gave me permission to start a podcast, except for myself. And it's something anyone in the world could do. Anyone could say, I'm gonna make a podcast, but it's the decision to want to do it, but you have to have the inspiration, you have to have the desire, you have to commit, I'm doing this, and then you have to take the actionable steps and do it. But to take those steps of the process that I just walked you through, you have to give yourself permission because you can have the desire, you can have the ambition, but if I don't give myself permission, then I am not going to start to take those actionable steps.

Giving Yourself Permission To Be Seen

Speaker 2:28

If you're a dancer listening, do you want to be seen when you are on the floor in your group, when you are on stage doing your solo? Do you want to be recognized for your work? Well, then you have to give yourself permission to be seen. Of course, you are seen, you're on stage dancing, but I mean really be seen. For someone to really see you as a storyteller, as a person, as someone expressing art. And you do have to give yourself permission first. You have to acknowledge the fact that you are on display in a vulnerable way, and you're going to be seen. You have to accept that and hopefully ground into not only do I give myself permission, but yes, I want to be seen. My ego will tell you, I love for people to watch me dance. I think that was always a big draw for me. I love the feeling of performing. I love being on stage. I love getting to showcase something that I'm super passionate about. And I love getting energy back on the other end when you have an audience that's supporting you and cheering on what you're doing. Oh, there's nothing like that feeling. And it's okay to want to be seen. We do have to feel safe enough, however. So practicing feeling safe, taking those baby steps so that maybe it's in my comfortable environment at my home studio with peers that you know are also dancers and saying, Hey, I have my solo practice. Do you want to come watch the last five minutes? Right. Asking a teacher you're intimidated by, would you look at my solo and give me feedback? Yeah, inviting your family to come and watch you in, I don't know, the living room, right? But like first taking little steps. Now, if you're listening and you're not a dancer, this also goes for anything that you do want to do or achieve or any dream or goal that you might have. I compared mine to a podcast. Maybe you want to create something. Maybe you want to tell your story, you want to write a book, maybe you want to go to school for something that your family has never done. You want to be the first in your family to get a college degree and to study something that you're passionate about. Any of these scenarios require you to give yourself permission to go for it. Once you have given yourself the permission, then you have to feel safe. Like I was just talking about with the reference with dancers. So, what are small steps that I can take so that I start to feel safe in what I want to create? Giving yourself permission to chase a dream is like setting down your own tip jar and saying, This has value. My movement has value, my voice has value, my story gives value, my ambition has value. We can have people who advocate for us and cheer us on and tell us you should do this thing or you can do this thing, you'd be great at this thing. And that is definitely helpful to have that support. And if you have those people in your life, thank them. Thank them and also see how you can encourage them. You can have permission from everyone else in the world. And if you can't get out of your own way and say, I can do this, I am worth it, I have something to offer. This is clearly a passion because it's important to me. If you can't get out of your way in that regard, then it's gonna be really hard, like I said, to take those actionable steps.

Showing Up Without Anyone There

Speaker 6:32

My parents, um, I guess they technically did give me permission to move to LA when I was gonna turn 18. They told me, you have a year to try and support yourself chasing this dream of yours to become a professional dancer. And if you can't do that, then you need to move home and go to college, essentially. So they gave me the permission, but they were not there with me to walk into the auditions. They were not there with me to stand up in what we call a typecast line where you get casted out based on your type, based on your height, based on your look, based on your physique. They were not there in those moments. So, in the back of my mind, I had been given permission to pursue my dream. I was the one who had to show up over and over again. And that is giving permission to fail, to be rejected, to be told no. The amount of times that I have been told no in my career substantially outweighs the amount of times I've been told yes. The no's don't define me or my worth or my talent. They are just stepping stones on the way to the next yes, the yes that is meant for me. I

Ego Versus Art That Serves

Speaker 8:03

used to confuse my passion for performing or storytelling with my ego. And I got to a point where I worried, oh, what I'm doing with my life is so egotistical. I just want to do it because it's for me. And the more time I've had to sit with that idea, yes, it's for me. It feels really good. It feels good to get on stage and to perform. It feels good to sit here and have this conversation with you. There's always value on the other side of it when we are creating something from the heart, when we are artists in any facet, there's gonna be value for the audience, for the receiver, for the listener. So if there is something on your heart, on your mind that you feel called to do, to make, to put into the world, to pursue a dream, I don't think that that is by accident. I think that it's important to listen to that. Now, I can tell you, I've had things that I thought I wanted to pursue, but then when I actually got into the grit of the work that should accompany the passion, I realized, oh, I don't know if I want to work this hard at this particular thing. So I've had things that I didn't follow through with. And then to me, those are things that were like a little more fleeting and like, okay, maybe I was excited by this idea, but it's not, it's not something I'm really meant to fully deep dive and pursue right now. But those

The Ideas That Keep Returning

Speaker 9:46

things that keep coming back into your mind, those things that you wake up thinking about, you go to bed thinking about, they pop in of your brain in and out all day. You feel excited to be able to work on the next time, excited to think about the possibilities of what could happen. And when you actually get into the work of it, sometimes it can be hard to start to begin the work, especially if you're like me. I am, I am really just the creative brain, the actual um, the busy work, the computer work, the behind the scenes, the production, the making those things happen. That is not my strength. But I can tell you the things that I've been the most passionate about because they were things I was supposed to pursue and follow through with. I do the work and I even find I might be intimidated to start the work, but once I dive in, I'm in and I'm actually proud because I may be learning a new skill set or I'm being challenged along the way as I am figuring out how to do it. For example, building a website for my artwork. That was really challenging for me and I didn't know how to start. And once I did, and I saw the homepage come together and the this page come together and then that page come together, it was like, oh, I'm actually doing this and it's important to me. So when there's an idea that's something that doesn't leave you, and that you start the work and you get even more excited by it or inspired by it. To me, that means it's something you definitely should continue to pursue and you should follow that excitement. One of my really dear friends says to follow where the energy comes and follow where the energy goes. And I really try to use that with a lot of things in my life. There's things that we have to get done. And if I just do not have the energy, I'm too drained to do them, then I try to come back to them at a time when I do have more energy for it because I'm gonna do it more efficiently and with more care. I really follow my energy. Things that bring me energy when I think about them or I work on them or I get to do them or I get to tell a friend about them. That to me is like, okay, that is a sign. I'm getting energy from this, it's fueling me. That means that I'm supposed to continue with this.

Follow The Energy Not Perfection

Speaker 12:14

I think it's also easy to get in our own way and say, but I'm not qualified yet. I'm not ready yet. The timing's not right yet. And I have also done that many times. I did that with this podcast. I delayed my launch multiple times because I felt that I wasn't ready, the timing wasn't right, you name it. Finally, I just gave myself permission and I set the tip jar down and I put the first dollar in. And I said, This idea is valuable, it matters to me. So I have to back it, I have to be the producer, I have to fund it because it means something to me. And so this is me encouraging you that whatever your idea is, whatever your dream is, whatever your goals are, you have to be the person to set the tip jar down and put in that first dollar because it is worthy. It does have value. And I find that the things that we're really passionate about, they do bring value to other people as well. Yes, it's valuable because it matters to you. But when we are passionate and inspired, that's infectious and it's going to inspire other people. And it shows us even more so, this is valuable beyond me. This is going to reach and impact and affect. And that always feels really good and can come back to show you it was worth doing.

Self Talk For Safety And Courage

Speaker 13:50

So just a quick little episode today to encourage you, encourage your big dreams, encourage, even if it's not a big dream, just a little side project, putting your voice out in the world in a different way, a new way. I know it can feel vulnerable. And like I said, we have to start with baby steps of making ourselves and our nervous system feel safe to do it. And literally that alone, saying, I am safe to take this next step. I am safe to be seen. I am safe to be heard, reassuring yourself. And when that voice pops in of like, who do you think you are? Why do you think you can do this? You can recognize it. Say, I see you. I appreciate you looking out for me. But I'm gonna just move you aside and I'm gonna listen to a different voice that says, I am safe to move forward in this new way. I have so much to offer. It's going to be so exciting. And it will. Thank you for being here with me today.

Final Encouragement And Review Request

Speaker 14:57

This is Essence Embodied. Your time means so much to me. If you enjoyed the episode, if you would consider leaving a five star rating or a written review, that would be awesome because that helps the show become more discoverable to other people who might also need to hear this message.