“I would like to quit my job but I can’t.”

“I just can’t wake up early.”

If you’ve ever found yourself feeling helpless and powerless, this episode is for you.

Interestingly, there are tiny ways in which we give up that power. It’s truly surprising how it happens. And we have to start with our language.

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) tells us that a language of violence is a language that denies choice. From “I can’t see you today” to something as extreme as “I was just following orders.”

Can we notice these patterns in our language? Can we change them?

The answer is YES!

Why change them?

Because it’s never too late to reclaim that agency over our lives.

How much awaits us on the other side of this action I can’t even imagine. But we have to start here, with our language.

I want to quickly share a personal example with you.

Although I like to joke about it now, it was actually really hard for me to quit my job during this pandemic. Financial security, health insurance (!), some kind of a career ladder – but against the wrong wall. A lot had to happen internally for me to take that external action. And I couldn’t leave it until I’ve realised I had been using a language that is completely disempowering. I was shocked by how willingly – without even noticing it – I had given up that power. Now that was really scary.

But so just like I had a choice to quit my job, I have a choice to be sharing this with you. I go more deeply into this in my podcast episode – check it out!