I recently had an experience where I had to stop myself from doing “the right thing” and stand my ground. Well I didn’t HAVE to, but I decided to nonetheless.

It was in Las Vegas in the middle of what can only be described as a “messy vacation.” My youngest got a stomach virus on the way to the hotel. Literally stepping out of the car after a five hour drive and throwing up in the parking lot and asking to lie down on the dirty cement (so gross!!!).

A day later my 11 year old said his stomach hurt out of nowhere and yup, same thing. My husband and I took turns trying to salvage our vacation by hanging out with whichever kid wasn’t sick at the time, but at one point both kids were exhausted and I went looking for food to bring back to the room.

Now if you’ve ever stayed in a casino in Vegas, you’ll know that it’s no easy feat to find something to eat that isn’t a burger or pizza within close range to your room. I think I figured out that it was a mile every time I went looking for something healthy.

Finally, I found a Mexican restaurant in a neighboring hotel and figured a plain cheese quesadilla “to-go” was as good as it was going to get – I was so tired of walking!

The hostess told me to sit at the bar and they would take care of it.

I gratefully sat down and waited for someone to help me. I had been sitting for maybe a minute when a lady came over to me and asked if I was just ordering something to-go and then leaving? I thought it was a weird question at first, but then I realized she wanted my seat. So I said “yes” and asked if she was waiting for my seat. She answered “Yes” and walked off, I guess to wait for me to order and stalk my seat from afar.

Eventually someone came to take my order and I asked for a water while I waited (I know water in Vegas instead of a margarita – but that’s the kind of vacation we were having!).

Now I’ve always loved to people watch so I was enjoying my water and looking around when the lady came back and stood next to me. Where I was sitting there was my seat and one next to me that was open. In my mind, she could take that seat and whoever she was with could stand until my food came. I mean my legs were tired and I did just pay over $30 bucks for two plain quesadillas (plus tip!) and felt I deserved to sit while I waited.

And honestly it had been rough with two sick kids. Because it was a stomach bug the last thing we wanted to do was get back into the car and pretty much the whole trip was non-refundable to boot! So we were both trapped and trying to make the best of it.

The lady came back and stood next to me and I told her, “I’m not sure how fast my food will come.” She looked at me with disdain and said, “Oh. You’re going to sit here and wait for your food?!” I said, “Yes.” She huffed off angrily to look for another seat (which by the way it looked like there were plenty across the bar).

Now I have to tell you, if you’ve been following my blog posts for a while you know that when I write I’m a channel for intuitive information. Which means as long as I’m living my life and meditating, blog posts just show up in my head and I write them. I had a post sitting in my computer ready to publish but I ran out of time before this trip. And as so often happens, this post was meant for me as much as it was meant for you.

It was about how when we are empaths, it is hard for us to feel we deserve things. A part of me wanted to say, “Oh there are two of them and they want to sit and have a drink and I’m only getting take out so I should stand and wait.”

But because I had just written THIS and really believed in it, I paused and I thought, “You know what? I’m a paying customer and it was really rude for her to come ask about my seat and expect me to wait somewhere else for my food.”

I chose to not only sit, but to go back to enjoying my water and my people watching.

My food came rather quickly and as I left I noticed no fewer than four open seats at the bar that she could’ve chosen besides the one I was occupying.

I felt happy about my choice. Not because she had other options, but because I was tired and I honored my body and sat. I was proud of myself for giving myself permission to take up space.  I wanted to sit at the bar with my water and I did just that before I walked the mile back to my room with my small $30 quesadillas to my kids who probably wouldn’t touch them anyway, but it was the best I could do.

If you are an empath, and especially if you are an empath who writes, you NEED to read this post:

It’s very important for us to start to command a presence and live our life with less apology and guilt. We need to sit when we are tired and let other people figure their own sh*t out. Right?

Now of course, it you’re on a bus and there’s an elderly person who needs a seat, that’s different. But this was a bar in Las Vegas with a woman who could stand – same as me.

So I say, empaths, let’s dig deep and take up some space!

If you need help shining your light as a writer, check out my Soul Align & Shine Sessions to help you tap into your soulful writing voice and be supported along the way. These sessions are powerful in letting your voice be seen!