Courage doesn’t mean your voice doesn’t shake.
Courage means you speak up anyways.
A couple weeks ago I attended a predominantly male-dominated conference where I was asked to present on being a woman in STEM, some of my clients experiences, and why a woman in STEM might want a coach.
I won’t lie, it was nerve-wracking.
I had no idea how it was going to land.
I gave the talk. My voice shook a little bit.
But I thought of my clients who have spent over a decade in their professions and don’t feel like they know enough, or that they’re been completely excluded, or their credibility is being ignored… and I spoke with as much power as I could from that place.
Afterwards I had multiple women come up to me and tell me how much it meant to them. How needed it was. How brave I’d been to give it.
I had women tell me about their own experiences in hushed voices.
I had males come up and say they thought of their wives, their daughters.
But that they too have experienced some of the thoughts I’d mentioned.
It made it all worth it.
Courage doesn’t mean you’re not nervous. That your body doesn’t have physiological responses to situations. That just makes you a human being. With more and more exposure, your body will find safety and those responses will go away.
Courage means you have deep grounded confidence and conviction in yourself, despite the physiological feelings, and you SHOW UP ANYWAYS. You show up despite the shaking voice and hands. Because you believe in yourself and the message you carry. You don’t make the shaking voice and hands a problem. You let them be there.
How are you getting out of your comfort zone today and embracing some butterfly’s?
p.s. I’d love to meet you for a complimentary 1-on-1 planning and consult session. I’ll take you through a some exercises that’ll leave you feeling clear on a problem you're trying to solve, what you want, and a way forward that you can start working on immediately. I’ll also tell you a bit more about what it’s like to work with me or answer any questions or concerns you might have, but there is zero obligation. You can book at the link below. If you can't find a time that works, email me at jolene@jolenehermanson.com and give me three times/dates that work for you to set aside 60-minutes.
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