Maybe it was just me.

But when I was learning to be a good little girl, one of the lessons that dug in deep and left a rut in my brain was that good little girls waited for good things.

They didn’t ask for them. Or, if they did, they did so politely, without whining or begging.

They certainly didn’t go after them.

Good things come to those who wait; that was the motto I came to live by.

Now, a lot of good things have come to me in my lifetime. But the idea that quietly and patiently waiting will get your needs met, let alone your wants, is pure bullshit. Why?

1. People can’t read your mind.
2. The universe operates on cause and effect.
3. Sitting quietly and waiting might make you a convenient child, but it makes you a pushover of an adult.

Once I realized that I could (and should) take action, that those actions could have an effect on my life, that I could [gasp] take the reins and actually make choices and move my life in the direction I wanted it to go, things took a turn for the better and less frustrating.

But still, I find myself waiting for permission way too often.

Permission to feel the things. Permission to do the things. Permission to take the leap, quit the job, write the poem, paint the picture.

Permission to be, to need, to want, to get.

If you, too, find yourself waiting for permission, consider this it.

Go get it, friend.