You Have a Right to Be Here

You have a right to be here.
You have a right to take up space.

With the encouragement of a dear friend and mentor, I left my job and went to graduate school to earn my Master of Divinity in Contemplative Chaplaincy. At first, I wondered how I would do in graduate school, decades after earning my bachelor’s degree. I wondered how my classmates would receive me—the older student in the room.

To my relief, my presence at Naropa University was anchored by powerful words shared during new student orientation by our vice president:

“You have a right to be here. You have a right to take up space.”

This was not easy for me to receive.

I had endured bullying and was made to feel ashamed for trying to find my true North—for following what inspired me. Bullied and gaslit, I grew up feeling like I had to prove I was worthy of belonging.

So when I heard those words, something in me resisted… and something in me began, slowly, to soften.

Over time, those words became something I could return to. Not as a demand, but as a gentle truth—one I could begin to test, and eventually, to trust.

I did not come to believe this on my own.

I was supported by communities that helped me grow into this knowing—my family, my time at Naropa, the Northwest Reiki Gathering, and my shamanic community. Each, in their own way, reflected something back to me that I could not yet fully see in myself.

They helped me begin to feel what those words pointed to:

That I belong.
That I do not have to prove my worthiness.
That I can take up space—just as I am.

This is the ground from which my work now emerges.

In the midst of grief, shame, transition, or uncertainty, it can be hard to feel that we have a place—that we are allowed to be here, as we are.

But something in you already knows.

And sometimes, what we need is a space where that knowing can be gently met, supported, and remembered.

If you are finding your way back to yourself, you are not alone.