Stop Shrinking: The World Needs You to Take Up Space

In this empowering episode of the "Giving A Purpose Podcast, host Mr. LA delves into the importance of taking ownership of your space. Discover how people-pleasing erodes self-confidence and learn to set boundaries with love. Jacques shares insights on embracing your authentic self, the power of emotional intelligence, and the significance of affirmations. Tune in to explore how you can stop shrinking and start shining, making a meaningful impact in every room you enter. Don't miss this inspiring conversation that encourages you to live on purpose and in purpose.

Transcript

Jacques LaGrange (00:00.994)
The world needs you to take up space. Let's talk about it next on the Give It A Purpose podcast.

Jacques LaGrange (00:32.778)
Welcome to the Given a Purpose podcast where we bridge the highs, the lows, the lessons learned through life's journey and filling in the gap. You already know what it is. It's a new week. So that means it's a fresh episode. I'm your host, Mr. LA. Listen, I need you guys to do me a favor. I need you guys to share this podcast. We're out on all major platforms, but you can catch us every week, Monday on YouTube. You don't.

want to miss these new episodes. Let somebody know how this is better in your life and how it is helping you out through the week. Now, this week, I want to talk about stop shrinking yourself. This world needs you to take up space. We are in a big world. I know we got seven billion people in there, but guess what? It's a whole lot of world out there and it needs your uniqueness.

Now, a couple of things that kind of start us from not being ourselves or belittling ourselves is people pleasing. Now, listen, I've been guilty of that a lot. And when I tell you a lot, I mean a lot. Now, the thing about it is

People pleasing erodes your self-confidence. You dilute your identity every time you say yes when you really mean no. right? And for the most part, people pleasing often comes from a fear of being rejected. That's me. Or abandonment. All right? The more you shapeshift, the more disconnected you come

from your authentic self. And we wanna make sure that we're always authentic to ourselves. Now, something else that we do that's in our culture that we've been talking about a lot for the last couple of years is emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence means setting boundaries, but setting boundaries with love. Boundaries, listen, are not walls. They are bridges to actually healthy relationships.

Jacques LaGrange (02:55.064)
Saying no is not rude, it's honest. Emotional intelligence helps you honor others without dishonoring yourself. Okay, now taking up space does not mean arrogance, it means ownership. And that's what we want, we want to take ownership. All right, so arrogance kind of goes as I'm better than you.

Ownership is like, I know who I am. I'm taking ownership of myself. I know who I really am. I know who my true authentic self is. Confidence. Confidence is quiet. It's not loud. It's grounded in your truth, not ego, right? You're not here to be tolerated. You're here to contribute, to take up that space. Now you know something that

we do all the time and we make sure that we say all the time, make sure you stand in your affirmations. Affirmations to remind you that you belong everywhere you go. So every room you walk into, you're gonna take up space. Every event that you walk into, you're gonna take up space. Every job you go to, you're gonna take up space because we have space in this world and it's just waiting for you.

to take up that space. Take up that space. All right? So saying stuff like, am allowed to be seen and heard. I do not have to shrink myself, right? I do not have to shrink myself to be safe. My presence is not too much. It's divine. Or when you walking in that alignment and it's divine, ain't nothing can stop you.

I am worthy of taking up space in every room that I enter. Spiritually, you were not created to shine, not to, you were created to shine and not hide. So let me say that again. Let me get that correct. Spiritually, you were created to shine and not hide. Your light is not a mistake. It's not a mistake. It's a message.

Jacques LaGrange (05:22.552)
When you dim yourself or you shrink yourself to others, you stay in the dark. God did not create you at all to be invisible. He created you to be impactful. Hmm. So think about this. I want you to kind of think about this to yourself. Are you being impactful wherever you go? Are you stepping into rooms? Are you taking up space? And once again, we're not saying that you're boasting.

or being arrogant about anything, are you taking up space when you walk in a room and not shrinking yourself? Are you taking up the space in that room, letting people know I'm here? All right?

Does that make sense? All right, so let's be real. We've all been taught, especially us kindhearted people. Me again, listen, just, you know, being a nice guy, being a kindhearted person, right? That means being nice means sometimes being quiet, walking into a room being small or being easy to manage. But people pleasing, like we said, is not kindness. It's actually self abandonment.

And every time you say yes, and when you really want to say no, you chip away at your own confidence. You betray your own truth. But emotional intelligence, right, gives us a better way. It's not about being aggressive or confrontational. It's about setting boundaries with love, like I said. It's about being clear and not cruel.

Think of it this way, if you honor other people's needs, you can also honor your own. Now, how many of us have fallen into that, like we help other people with other projects and we do better for them than we do ourselves. We'll probably give them 110%, but when we do it to ourselves, we do the bare minimum. I have been guilty of that plenty of times, all right?

Jacques LaGrange (07:34.7)
And remember, like I said, taking up space doesn't mean arrogance. It doesn't mean being loud or dramatic. It means ownership. That key word being owner, being and having ownership of your life, right? It means standing tall without being apologetic about it. You don't have to tiptoe through life. This is your life. Take ownership of it. Like I said, it's not being

being Aryan or anything like that. You're here to take up space and to transform the rooms that you walk in, not to shrink inside of them. Like I can admit, I still struggle sometimes with going into certain rooms and I have to talk to a couple of people to make myself feel comfortable. I don't necessarily walk in there with the confidence that I need. And it's something that I'm still working on. I can be honest.

but I'm learning that even though it's a big room and it's a lot of space, I can take up some space in there. I'm not there just to be seen. I'm there to be heard as well. And not to be heard sometimes, like as soon as you walk in, just talking, sometimes you need to be heard like, I'm here, I'm him. You dig? All right. Now let me give you a couple of...

More affirmations. Listen, I was created to take up space. Tell yourself that. I was created to take up space. Remember, I belong in every room I enter. I am not too much. I am enough. Man, listen, that's been on my spirit a lot. I say that every day. Like I said, I have certain timers throughout the day.

where I have I am affirmations. And one thing that I'm saying a lot right now is I am enough. All right, now, when you say these things, when you say these affirmations, man, say it with your chest. All right, speak them until you believe them. Speak them to you in your subconscious, that's your default. Reset your default, all right? You were created to shine.

Jacques LaGrange (10:01.688)
So don't dim your light, don't dim yourself. All right, stop shrinking, stop apologizing for being multi-talented, for being passionate, for being bold, for being bright. Start walking like you were sent here because you were. The world needs, not just you, but the world needs your full presence, not half-hitting potential. Let me say that again. The world needs your full presence and not your half.

hidden potential. Listen, I hope this bless somebody real good today. I hope you took some notes. If not, watch it again, share it with somebody. Cause this has been very impactful. And the one thing I need you guys to do always, always and always is make sure you live on purpose and make sure you live in purpose. I'll see you guys next time. Peace.