“I want to run a nonprofit someday.”

I spoke these words with confidence every day my senior year of college, when family, friends, and professionals alike asked my plans for the “big, scary future.”

I may not have sounded so confident had I known I’d step into this role at age 22.

Being COO of Young Professional Women in Energy is enlightening, empowering, and about 50 million associated synonyms. It even inspired me to launch my side business, She Enlightened, which brings meditation and peace to women and girls.

Out of all of the qualities I’ve had to acquire to keep a growing nonprofit afloat, the one I had to learn the quickest is confidence.

Here’s How To Open Up to Your Confidence:

Close your eyes, and spread yourself out. Let your shoulders relax, sit firmly on the ground, and spread your arms to rest on your knees.

Taking up space releases hormones of power and confidence into your body. Sitting with intention will evoke a surge of power.

• Call to mind an area of your life where you are holding yourself back. Any career, relationship, financial or living situation. Where can you step into your confidence?

• Remind yourself, “I have the strength for this. I am whole. I am hopeful. I am ready.”

• Find a deep cycle of breath. Breathe in and out around the words as you recite them internally.

• Take the next five minutes to envision the end result of your goal. Where do you see yourself succeeding?

• Sometimes, writing down what you see during this time helps to affirm it.

A clear intention and a peaceful moment can go miles. You can do this.

Meagan Roppo has been a student of meditation and yoga, as well as a 60-hour trained advocate for women, for the past four years. She has dedicated her time and passion to women’s crisis shelters, feminist studies, and writing on women’s issues. By founding She Enlightened in 2014, Meagan encourages and empowers girls & women to bring forth the unique gifts, voices, and light shining inside each of them. Meagan currently works as Chief Operating Officer of Young Professional Women in Energy, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that works to employ more women in the energy industry. http://www.sheenlightened.com