Renee Palacios

For much of my life, I believed success meant being chosen.

Chosen for the promotion. Chosen for the opportunity. Chosen for the relationship. Chosen for the seat at the table.

I spent years believing that if I worked hard enough, sacrificed enough, loved deeply enough, and proved myself often enough, someone else would eventually decide I belonged.

What I didn't know was that life would repeatedly place me in situations where no one was coming to hand me a seat. In those moments, I would have to decide whether to shrink—or build one myself.

Achievement became my language.

As the youngest of five children growing up in San Antonio, Texas, I learned early how to read a room. Before I learned algebra or history, I learned silence. I learned that sometimes the safest place for a child was to become invisible. I became an observer, an achiever, and a perfectionist. If I could control my performance, perhaps I could create stability where none existed.

I carried that belief into adulthood. Achievement became my language. Degrees became proof that I belonged. Work became the place where I searched for certainty. For a long time, it worked.

Then life reminded me that certainty is an illusion.

I survived an abusive relationship that slowly convinced me to question my worth. I experienced heartbreaking pregnancy losses that forever changed how I viewed love and grief. I became a mother while earning degrees, often studying after bedtime and believing that exhaustion was simply the price of becoming the woman I hoped to be.

Healthcare leadership became more than my profession.

Then came a career I loved. Healthcare leadership became more than my profession. It became my purpose. I loved solving problems, developing people, improving systems, and advocating for patients. Every promotion felt like confirmation that hard work truly mattered.

Until one day, it didn't.

Losing a career I had spent years building forced me to confront a question no title could answer.

Who was I without the position?

The answer surprised me.

• I was still the woman who loved fiercely.
• Still the woman who believed integrity mattered.
• Still the woman who refused to compromise her values simply because it was easier.
• And perhaps most importantly, I was still the woman who refused to quit.

Some of the most defining moments of my career never appeared on a résumé.

They happened in conference rooms where I was asked to compromise my ethics because it was more convenient. They happened in meetings where I had to remain composed while my expertise was questioned. They happened in conversations where I realized that the same passion praised in others could be perceived differently when it came from a woman.

There were moments when I wanted to shrink. Moments when the little girl inside me wanted to avoid conflict, stay quiet, and disappear.

But leadership asked something different of me.

• It asked me to speak with conviction while remaining compassionate.
• To establish boundaries without losing kindness.
• To disagree without becoming disrespectful.
• To protect my integrity even when doing so came with professional consequences.

No leadership class teaches you that.

Life does.

I stopped chasing permission.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped chasing permission. I stopped believing every seat had to be offered before I deserved to sit there. Instead, I learned to bring my own chair—not because I believed I was entitled to the room, but because I finally understood that my value had never depended on someone else's invitation.

Today, as I complete my doctorate in Leadership and Organizational Development, researching the experiences of women in healthcare leadership, I often smile at the irony. I thought I was studying resilience. I was really studying my own life.

Loss doesn't only take things from us.

I have learned that loss doesn't only take things from us. Sometimes it introduces us to ourselves.

Every disappointment stripped away another version of the woman I thought I had to become.

• The woman who needed everyone's approval.
• The woman who confused peacekeeping with self-sacrifice.
• The woman who believed shrinking made other people more comfortable.

What remained was someone I finally recognized.

• A woman who leads with empathy without apologizing for it.
• A woman who protects her integrity even when it's inconvenient.
• A woman who believes kindness and strength can exist in the same sentence.
• A woman who no longer waits to be chosen before believing she belongs.

If my journey has taught me anything, it is this:

There will be seasons when life doesn't hand you the relationship you hoped for, the promotion you earned, the recognition you deserved, or the certainty you desperately wanted. Those moments have a way of convincing you that you are somehow less.

Don't believe them.

Your worth was never determined by who chose you. It was always determined by the woman you remained while life tested you.

• Stay kind.
• Stay courageous.
• Stay honest.
• Stay true to yourself.

The world will offer you many seats throughout your life. Some you'll gladly accept. Some you'll graciously decline.

And a few...

You'll build yourself.

Those are the ones no one can ever take away.