I used to apologize for taking up space. In meetings, in conversations, in my own ambitions. I would shrink my ideas before sharing them. Qualify every statement with "I might be wrong, but..." or "This is probably a silly question, however..." I would watch less experienced people speak with more confidence than I allowed myself and wonder, why can't I do that? The answer, when I finally found it, was uncomfortable. I had spent so long waiting to be chosen that I forgot I could choose myself. Nobody was going to walk up to me and say, "Elizabeth, you are ready now. Here is your opportunity." That moment was never coming. The opportunity was always going to be the one I created, and the confidence was always going to be the one I built. The career was always going to be the one I decided to build out loud, imperfectly, and without waiting for permission. So I stopped waiting. I called myself a Virtual Assistant before I had a single client, because that is what I am becoming, and I refuse to be invisible while I build it. Stop waiting for someone to hand you the version of yourself you're capable of being. She is already in there. It's time to introduce her to the world.