Hello, and welcome!
I’m Ingrid, and this is Permission. You’re welcome to read a little more about me and about Permission here.
Have you ever wanted to do a thing? It could be anything – running, indoor gardening, painting, public speaking, solo travel, writing – an activity or hobby that tweaked your interest, nudged at your curiosity? It might be a thread that has run through your whole life. Or it may be a small signpost that pops up intermittently. However it shows up for you, it’s a big or small, heavy or light, crucial or frivolous thing that you haven’t done.
That’s the only key factor here, and it really is key – it’s something that you haven’t done. And why haven’t you done it? Well, obviously, because nobody has said that you can. Because you’re waiting for permission.
Like me.
All those things I mentioned above, the running and indoor gardening and painting and public speaking and solo travel and writing, are all things I have wanted but not done. I might have wanted them a lot, like running and gardening, or wanted them a little, like painting, public speaking and solo travel, or wanted them desperately and consumingly, like writing, but the wanting was there. Unfortunately, what was bigger than the want was the need for someone to say I could. That I was allowed. That I had permission.
I realise I may be creating a false impression that I live in a repressed or controlled relationship of some kind. This is absolutely not the case, and not at all the kind of permission I’m referring to. I am not qualified to speak about those matters in any detail and I am in no way making light of the seriousness and severity of actual situations of coercive control.
No, I’m speaking of the permission we don’t give ourselves. As women, as people of a certain age, as creative people, as human beings who want to do things that aren’t necessarily contributing to the capitalist machine we all find ourselves a part of. And don’t get me wrong, I’m also a cog in that capitalist machine, as a lawyer and business owner, but I don’t think that means that it’s all I am.
Right?
Permission is where we’ll explore what it looks like for us when we give ourselves permission to do the things. For me, I’ll be sharing my writing, which is the biggest (and scariest) permission slip, one I’ve been waiting my adult life for. I write about being a woman, of colour, in middle age, as a mother of boys, as an Australian living in The Netherlands. I write about grief and fear and loss and adventure and joy. I write about books and bodies, forests and friendship, podcasts and people.
And because it’s so much easier to do things when we see others in action, I’ll also be sharing stories and interviews with people who are giving themselves permission to do whatever it is they want.
I’m so glad you’re here.
As we steam towards the end of the year, I’d love to know, what will you use your permission slip for in the last few months of 2024?
Look at you go, Ingrid! Well done for getting your first SS article out 💛
As I read I was reminded of our chat and this quote from Marianne Williamson : “As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
Here's to giving ourselves permission, well done for giving yourself permission to write, to put your words out there and nudging others to do the same. Maybe a plant as a well done?! Permission for our own wants and needs is so hard, but so needed. Thank you.