Your Voice Matters. So Why Aren’t You Using it?
Recently, I discovered I had missed paying an invoice from someone on my team.
Not by a day.
By a week. 🙈
When I realized it, I immediately paid it and said, “Next time, if I don’t pay you within a day, please text me!”
To be clear, paying her on time was my responsibility. She deserved that whether she reminded me or not.
Her response?
She was too shy to follow up because she didn’t want to bother me.
And there it was.
A coaching moment hiding inside an overdue invoice.
I told her:
“You deserve to be paid on time. Your work is valuable. I teach empowerment, girl...get on board!”
And then, because apparently no interaction with me is safe from turning into a coaching session, I gave her an affirmation:
I am worthy. I am speaking up more each day. My needs matter. My voice deserves to be heard.
But I’ve been thinking about that conversation ever since.
Because how many of us do some version of this?
We don’t follow up because we don’t want to bother someone. We don’t ask the question because we don’t want to seem difficult. We don’t say what we need because we don’t want to appear demanding.
We don’t correct someone because it feels easier to let it go. We don’t ask for what we’ve earned because we worry about what they’ll think of us.
So instead, we stay quiet.
And then we call it being nice.
But sometimes “being nice” is really just being afraid to use our voice.
There’s a difference between kindness and abandoning yourself. There’s a difference between being considerate and making yourself small.
And there’s a BIG difference between demanding something you’re not entitled to and confidently asking for something you are.
Empowerment isn’t walking around announcing how powerful you are.
Empowerment is behaving like your voice matters.
It’s following up. Having the uncomfortable conversation. Asking the question. Setting the boundary. Saying, “This doesn’t work for me.”
And yes, sometimes it’s simply saying, “Hey, you forgot to pay my invoice.”
Your needs don’t have to become someone else’s emergency.
But they also don’t have to become invisible just because you’re afraid of inconveniencing someone.
So here’s the question I want you to sit with today:
Where have you been staying quiet because you don’t want to “bother” someone?
Maybe it’s time to speak up.
Your work has value. Your needs matter. Your voice deserves to be heard.
You don’t have to become louder or tougher to start speaking up. You can be kind and still be clear.
If people pleasing, overthinking, or putting yourself last keeps getting in your way, we can work on that together.
With love,
XO ~ Coach Tara
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As a trusted life and mindset coach with over 20 years of experience, I help high-achieving women and creatives move beyond overthinking and self-doubt, reconnect with what matters, and create a life they love waking up to—without burning out or losing themselves.
