Whether it be to your boss, your friends, or your family – standing up for yourself can be a daunting task. It can be difficult to be straightforward with your feelings and advocate for your needs in a productive manner, especially when you have a tendency to get lightheaded immediately after standing up, and often need to take a moment to sit back down. Here are some tips that can help you avoid serious injury when you stand up for yourself:
Have confidence.
The key to effectively standing up for yourself lies in your self confidence. Having confidence that your opinion matters, that your feelings are valid, and that you won’t pass out after standing up too quickly are all essential in effectively communicating your needs to others. But being confident doesn’t mean you can’t admit when you’re wrong. You can still be assertive while maintaining an open mind, and you can still set boundaries while agreeing that, yeah, maybe you should get your iron levels checked out.
Keep it brief and to the point.
Keeping your points concise can help foster a better understanding between you and whoever you’re talking to – plus, it allows you to wrap up more quickly and avoid an embarrassing fainting spell by getting back to sitting down and putting your head between your knees. If you aren’t used to standing up for yourself, keeping it brief can be difficult, as you might be inclined to air out everything that has ever bothered you. Not only does this dilute the original issues you wanted to address, it can also leave you feeling winded and even more at risk of passing out than before. So stick to the script, and make sure you have ample seating nearby!
Stand your ground.
After you’ve made your points, don’t back down. Sure, you might need to sit back down for a moment to get your blood pressure back to a normal level, but keep the backing down purely physical. Mentally and emotionally? You’re unswayable – a brick wall. You don’t want to be a pushover, especially when you’re already at risk of falling over of your own accord simply from moving from a seated position into a standing one.
At the end of the day, standing up for yourself is all about placing enough value on your own needs to advocate for them, even if you invariably get lightheaded while doing so. As long as you’re staying true to yourself, it doesn’t matter how many times you need to sit down in between defending your self worth to the people in your life. Just make sure you keep standing up again (and maybe schedule a visit with your doctor to ask about orthostatic hypotension).