Holding space for yourself means giving yourself space to be who and how you want to be.

It can be as small as giving yourself 10 minutes of quiet before rushing off and doing everything that everyone else expects of you.

Or it can be as big as not letting let the world come in and tell you who to be and what to do - which means you give yourself the space to create your life the way YOU want it to be.

Or it can be anything in between.

Learning how to hold space for yourself is one of those foundational things you need to be doing in order to be able to live your best life.

There are two different parts of this: creating space and holding space. You've got to be doing both for this to work.

You create space by doing things that mark out the boundary of the space you are giving yourself.

You hold space by doing what it takes to guard that boundary.

As a small example: In 2016 I stopped doing my free live coaching videos on Tuesday mornings.

This was a way of CREATING more space for myself to work on the Year of Dreams 2017.

I announced it, and did one last one. After that I did have people ask if I could do it just one more time, because they missed the last one.

And that's where I chose to HOLD the space by saying NO.

It's really not enough to create the space, holding the space is where the real work comes into play.

This is where people tend to fail with holding space and having boundaries: You expect other people to hold them for you.

They won't.

HOLDING the boundary is YOUR job.

HOLDING the space is YOUR job.

You can't just make the decision, state what you are doing, and be done. You need to be ACTIVELY HOLDING space.

Think about the ways that you'd like to create and hold space for yourself.

And then design a boundary that preserves the space you are creating for yourself.

But also think about the other people who will be disappointed by this or ask you to do what they want you to do.

And think about how they are likely to react.

And be ready to respond in a way that HOLDS your boundary.

Integrity will help you hold space for yourself.

I made no promises about the free live coaching videos going on forever.

I did give notice that they were stopping and did one last video.

I know that I ended those videos with as much grace and integrity as I could.

This is what makes it easier for me to hold space for myself and for what I want next.

By handling the situations with honesty and as much grace and respect for all involved as I can, I fill my part of the boundary with honesty, grace and respect.

I can't control how others will react but I can do my best to set things up to be as gentle as possible through how I treat people.

Of course - sometimes people do react poorly and then it's up to me to hold my own boundaries there.

Sometimes you have to talk to people about changing your agreements in order to create the space for yourself that you need.  Again, approaching these conversations with compassion and respect brings as much grace as possible to these negotiations (though they're not always going to be easy).

Creating and holding space for yourself is delicate work.

It's really about creating and maintaining boundaries.

But "normal" boundary work is about dealing with unacceptable behaviour and creating boundaries around it.

This is NEXT LEVEL boundary work. This is how you use boundaries to create the space you need to become who you want to be.

It's holding space for your healing and growth.

Of course, people who haven't given themselves permission to really pursue their dreams are not likely to be super supportive of you setting boundaries with them so you can pursue yours.

But are you going to let that stop you? No.

Here are 25 ways to hold space for yourself and your dreams:

1. Remind yourself that you matter and your dreams matter, like all the time - put notes about this in your daytimer.
2. Be super intentional about your time management.
3. Explore what it would mean to be loyal to your joy.
4. Be more committed to your dreams - do the things that scare you. (GET SUPPORT to do this if need be - I can help you here)
5. Say no to things that don't help you move towards where you want to be. Start with small things and work your way up to the big things.
6. Think very carefully about whether or not something truly serves you before you say yes it.
7. Turn down the volume on social media.
8. Turn up the volume on your own intuition. (hint: it speaks more loudly when you listen and follow through on it's guidance)
9. Put yourself first. If you're not used to doing it, then start in really small ways and work your way up.
10. Learn to leave others to their consequences of their actions without trying to rescue them. This is uncomfortable at first but ultimately liberating for all parties.
11. Keep your eyes on your own work. Comparison will not get you to where you want to be.
12. But be genuinely happy for other people's successes.
13. Face your fears. Avoiding uncomfortable feelings means they are controlling you.
14. Go to therapy or a woman's circle or join a community of kindred spirit Dreamers or something like this for support.
15. Plan a weekly journal-coffee date with yourself and your dreams.
16. Say no some more.
17. Unsubscribe from anything that isn't helping.
18. Write love letters to your dream.
19. Get rid of your TV.
20. Examine your beliefs about what you think is possible for you. Find ways to stretch your possibilities.
21. Know how you want to feel and how to help yourself feel that way (it's easier than it sounds).
22. Meditate.
23. Don't answer the phone.
24. Spend more time outside.
25. Spend less money. Really! A lot of our spending is actually driven by un-helpful unconscious patterns so when we slow down it can help us see our patterns better.

And a bonus: sign up for my free courses:

You have a LOT of magic in you.

And I’ve got a lot of tools, tips and practices to help you use it more effectively as FUEL for your CREATIVE DREAMS.

Sign up here for access to ALL of my free classes* to heal, grow and play your way into your wildest dreams: