Embrace Your Otherness to Tap Into Your Personal Power with Nikki Innocent
— EPISODE 49 —
Click here for the full audio-visual experience!
Often, the things that make us different are the things we want to hide from the world. But what would happen if you embraced your differences and your “otherness”?
Today’s Unconditionally Worthy guest is Nikki Innocent, a Certified Career Coach and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Strategist who believes that despite the ways we differ, we are much more alike than we are different.
In this episode, Nikki and I talk about the power of tapping into your otherness and how that ties into your self-worth journey. Nikki sheds light on her self-worth journey, how we can collectively overcome societal divisiveness and the opportunities that come once you embrace the power of your differences.
I like to think that everyone has a unique way to share their gifts with others and make the world a better place. There’s room for everyone’s ideas, skills, and goals.
So much of our societal degradation has to do with us losing our sense of self-worth as we get older. But becoming disconnected with our innate worthiness causes mental and emotional stress, so it’s extremely important that we embark on this self-worth journey to reconnect with the power of our worthiness.
When we start believing that we need to conform and change and shrink ourselves so that we can fit in and make sure others are comfortable, we also start betraying ourselves. As Nikki says, the “your comfort is more important than my humanity” approach has been a huge underpinning of the history of the U.S. and this doesn’t just apply to BIPOC folks. Betraying and denying ourselves is a widespread issue amongst people of all identities.
Divisiveness and fighting are often a default in our society. We fail to see and to love each other and ourselves for and despite our differences. We haven’t collectively created the space to explore ideas, have constructive conversations, and facilitate the healing needed to overcome this divisiveness.
“While our reality is extremely divisive right now, it can also exist with this work of really creating that space for expansive possibility to live and breathe and hopefully be a role model in some way, shape, or form for folks that are close to wanting to move that way.”
Nikki Innocent
Facing the world’s challenges from a grounded place that allows us to engage in this work instead of polarizing and punishing one another is a powerful step to honoring our worthiness. We’re meant to be curious and explorative! We’re constantly evolving and so are the things that make us unique in this world. Learning how to embrace our otherness and tap into our power will help us release our hateful beliefs and embrace our humanity.
When you tap into the power of your otherness, Nikki believes you can create more space for alternative choices in your life. You can feel empowered to use your voice, take risks, and create a strong sense of self-worth. Even witnessing other people standing in their otherness adds to your power and your memory of what it means to be a one-of-a-kind human.
Embracing the power of your gifts and acting in alignment with your innate self-worth allows you to create the life that you want with ease, not with struggle.
This week, I invite you to explore what makes you different and empower your loved ones to do the same. The more we can encourage each other to embrace our otherness, the more we can come together to make the world a better place.
About Nikki Innocent:
Nikki Innocent is a 2-time TEDx speaker, podcast host, certified career coach focused on women’s leadership, and diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) strategist.
After over a decade in Corporate America, the experience of feeling "other" is something that is familiar to Nikki. As a biracial Black woman, a child of immigrants, an elder-Millennial, a tomboy, and a creative, non-traditional business person, it was obvious that the traditional molds of “success” weren't built with people like Nikki (those that live in the in-between) in mind, so she's breaking them.
On her podcast, Checkbox Other, Nikki shines a light on our relationship to our own unique identity and welcomes guests who share times where they have felt "other" or that they didn’t belong and how it has shaped their lives. The power of witnessing these often unheard stories allows listeners to tap into the power of empathy and our shared humanity. We see that despite the ways we differ, we are much more alike than we are different.
To connect further with Nikki:
Visit her website: https://www.nikkiinnocent.com
Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkiinnocent
Connect with her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nikkiinnocent
Connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicoleinnocent
Listen to Checkbox Other: https://www.nikkiinnocent.com/podcast
Listen to her TEDx talks: https://www.nikkiinnocent.com/podcast/podcast-episodes/tag/TED+Talks
Watch the full video interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dpO4Vq9v4KY
Stream & Download The Unconditionally Worthy Podcast NOW for FREE on Apple Podcasts, Google, Stitcher, and Spotify!
Leave a review and share this podcast, or DM me on social media to let me know your thoughts on this topic!
