Every time someone with power over you headed the wrong direction and you said sounds good, you told yourself a story about why.

It wasn't worth the friction. They'd made up their mind anyway. You were picking your battles.

This episode is going to say the quiet part out loud.

That wasn't judgment. That was relief. You felt the flush of fear about pushing back, took the exit, and dressed it up in words that sound like wisdom so you'd never have to admit it was just about fear.

And here's what it costs you quietly over time. Every time you swallow it, you teach them your agreement means nothing. A yes that's always a yes isn't information. They stop weighing it. They stop asking. And one day you realize you have a seat at the table but no voice at it.

You gave the voice away yourself. One sounds good at a time.

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