[Intro] Hello, welcome to my podcast, Empowered to Thrive. I'm so glad you joined me today. I'm your host, Corinne Powell.

I'm an intuitive mentor, and I help people pleasers to find happiness, embrace courage, and experience peace of mind. But say you're not a people pleaser, and you're desperate for change and not sure how to make it happen, then I'm here to help. 

In this space, you're going to find motivation to live a life full of joy and resilience. We'll talk all things inner wellness. And because I'm a mom, we'll throw in some knock-knock jokes. Just kidding. We'll talk mom hacks and parenting sometimes. 

Whether it's your first time here, or you listen week after week, I am wanting you to know, as I'm always wanting you to know, that your life is so significant. You are so valuable.

And I, for one, am happy that you are alive. I hope that you enjoyed today's episode. And would you do me a favor? Would you go ahead and subscribe to my podcast? Give me a good rating and write a written review? Any of those three things would help me so very much, and I would appreciate it.

Enjoy the episode. 

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This is one of my favorite topics. It's all about empowering ourselves by taking ownership. So what do I mean by taking ownership? I know I keep going back to my own story, but it's easier for me to share with you from my own story and how I have come to understand the ways that these things were affecting my life and how I freed myself from them. 

So ownership and taking ownership is a very complicated subject because it's so easy to feel powerless to other people and to situations and circumstances that happen in our life. And I grew up being taught, I was trained to actually feel powerless.

As sad as that might sound, I know that's not only my story. Perhaps some of you feel the same way, that you were taught how to stay small. Maybe in the culture you grew up in, if you were a woman, then you were suppressed in a different way than the men.

Perhaps, you know, it's your story. Whatever your story is, you're going to hear through mine and I'm sure there are ways that you're going to identify with me. But taking ownership is one of those things that's such a powerful action that it changes the course of your life.

So instead of feeling that things are happening to me, I now feel like things are happening for me. So even if something that I would qualify as bad was to happen, I'm able to see that it's there for my good and that it's meant to help me grow, help me move forward. It's meant to empower me and help me to recover in a greater way.

It's not that I wish bad things on anyone or on myself, but I'm going to use them for my benefit. So ownership, it looks like recognizing that we're not the victim. And I am not talking here about when you have been legitimately victimized.

That is different. It is not okay and I'm not suggesting that that should be belittled or denied. In fact, if you have been truly victimized, I would encourage you to acknowledge that to look into how that's made you feel and how that's affected your life and the way that you function within life.

This is something separate from that. This is when you've been trained or you've learned to look at yourself as if you are a victim to other people's behaviors or your circumstances. Say, for example, you feel like, well, I just can't get that job.

I mean, everyone else can, but I can't. Well, why not? What disqualifies you from getting the job that everyone else can get? There's probably a reason there why you might feel like you're a victim to that. And for me, it really just looked like feeling inadequate.

I didn't feel capable of doing most things. I didn't think I could successfully do whatever I tried. And I've come to realize, and this actually is in part thanks to my husband. He is one of the greatest people in my life and he is someone who has always pushed me to be my authentic self. 

So in that, what that's looked like is it's been choosing to try out things and to not look at it as a failure when I don't get it right the first time, but instead to say, I'm practicing to learn and it's going to take practice. And sometimes I'm not going to get it right, but eventually the more I try, I can master this.

Think about a baby. When your baby or someone's baby is getting to that point where they're about to walk, they're going to fall down and they're going to get up and they're going to try it again. They're going to fall down.

They're going to get up and try it again. I sure hope that we're not going to stand there and say, oh, look at you. You fell down. No, they're trying. It takes time to learn how to walk. They're going to get it.

And each time they take a couple steps, yeah, you did it. So it's literally doing the same thing for our grown self. So I'm willing to try almost anything now.

In fact, I look at it as a challenge and I say, I'm going to learn something from this and I'm going to know how to do something that I couldn't do before. I get excited about it. And no, it's still hard to do some things, you know, the tasks that you're like, come on, I just wish I didn't have to do this.

But my whole mindset has shifted. I no longer feel like the victim. I actually feel empowered.

I'm willing to take ownership and to say your stuff is your stuff and that's not my stuff. So this comes down to choosing to not pick up the pieces for somebody else when someone else has made a mess of something and you know it's not yours to be responsible for. Taking ownership looks like not really choosing to take responsibility for what they've done, but just being responsible for you and choosing to take your power really.

So for you, I want you to just think about are there areas in your life where you have felt like a victim? Are there areas where you've thought, I don't think I have the same chance at this as someone else? And if there are, where did that originate? That belief in that idea that you might not be able to do it as well as someone else or you're not going to have a chance at it even though other people do. Did someone say something to you? Did you experience something? Allow yourself as much as you're comfortable to explore within yourself to see what helped to form this belief. You know, if your story is anything like mine, I saw what was modeled.

I absorbed the energy of the people around me and I grew up around people that felt pretty disempowered to do things. They felt like they were a victim to whatever happened to them and they just had to suck it up and get through it or grin and bear it. And I've had to relearn and restructure the way I think and it has been a super liberating experience.

So, I'm excited for you and here you are. So, let's do this thing. Start writing down those things that you feel like you're holding a victim mentality, a victim way of thinking in.

Start writing that down. Just get that flow going and see where it takes you. I'm releasing and sending you courage and strength as you do this really, really beautiful inner work.

[Ending] Here we are. We've made it to the end. What'd you think about what you heard today? Is there something you heard that you know you need to take action on? I'm one of those people who loves to not just sit and hear something, but to sit in here and then go ahead and start implementing, taking action on what I hear, what was stirred up in me. And I encourage you to do the same. 

If you enjoyed today's episode or perhaps you heard an episode in the past that really stuck with you, would you go ahead and share that with some of your friends and your family? It would mean so much to me. And also, if you want to connect with me, remember, you can always find me throughout the week. On Instagram. I'm ⁠@corinne_changeradically⁠. Or you can email me anytime. corinne@changeradically.com. I'd love to be in touch. And if there's any way that I can help you, please speak me out. 

Until we speak again next week, I hope that you will remember in the moments that are loud and busy, and in the moments that are quiet and still, that who you are is super important. You are valuable.

And I am so glad that you're alive.