The Practice of Finding Your Voice
Some days, trying to find your voice feels like sifting through a bin at a thrift store, or decluttering your closet, or clearing out the attic, or putting a metal detector over sand, or digging until you hit water. You get the point. The examples are endless. I think it gets a little easier as you get older and detach from childhood, grow into adulthood, stack up experiences and have the opportunity to step into your true identity, but ironically, all of that can be exactly what makes it so hard to hear yourself. Add on the fact that technology has made the world noisier than ever, and no matter how intentional we are, it’ll inevitably creep in. This year I’ve been practicing hard at trusting my intuition…trusting my VOICE. And as someone who lives in their mind and can get lost in it, in that practice, I’ve had to constantly work through which voice is mine and how do I know it’s mine? And my answer to myself always comes down to 2 questions: does it align with your values and can you stand behind it? I almost immediately know if it’s my voice or not.
If even those questions are a struggle for you, I have a little hack – break it down into a visual, simplify it – imagine you had to protest something, anything – what would it be? And if you had to write a sign that represented what you stand for at that protest – what would it say? Create as many protest scenarios as you want and be blunt. Don’t overthink it. Don’t censor yourself. Don’t sugarcoat it. Don’t try to sound good. Write the things you’re almost afraid to write. Eventually, you’ll hit water.
♥️
With love,
Desiree