Permission to Speak: Finding the Power in Using my Voice

Of all the accomplishments that I have achieved, there is one that supersedes them all.

Finding my voice.

It was no small feat.

From since childhood, I’ve had to battle the external voices, and the doubts within, that tried to convince me that what I had to say held little consequence.

I spent the larger part of my former years disproving the idea that my point of view did not matter.

Whether it was challenging the stereotypical norms that enabled me to sit silently and fade into the background, or the unconscious bias that I disrupted by vaguely communicating an intelligent thought…

I struggled with feeling slighted and discouraged. People were pretty clear that they preferred that I sat pretty and shut up.

I almost did. I'm ashamed to say I almost listened.

I could not. I knew I had something to say, I felt strongly about the things that I wanted to share… whether people were willing or receptive to listen or not.

I have had my confidence shattered on many occasions. Often by the comments and remarks of the people I held in high esteem, those who I assumed would value what I wanted to say. It is the unfairest of paradoxes… that those who claim to know you best tend to be those who know you least. So fixed is the paradigm from which they view you, any attempt at being seen by those who see you so frequently… felt futile.

Rather than shrink back in defeat, I found different ways to share my thoughts, ideas, and beliefs.

You are only too loud for the people who were never there to listen.

I recognized that I did not need the approval I thought I needed, I did not need the validation that I wasted so much time trying to find… I just needed to find the courage to say, the things I wanted to say.

And it was in speaking that my audience found me. And still, is slowly finding their way to me.

It was in my vulnerability, my focus on healing and alignment… did I begin to recognize the power I felt in speaking.

I could feel the influence that my own voice carried. Beyond the circles I thought meant everything, resonating in areas that I could not have imagined, or thought my thoughts would find.

I could not be silenced, and even still, now that I've started... I cannot stop sharing.

To think that there is an alternative reality where I may have allowed myself to feel discouraged by the limits of the people who were committed to misunderstanding me. That I could have chosen to toe the line… speak when spoken to, and focus on the superficialities that others expected. I could have become the person that shrunk. I could have buried my ideas so as not to disrupt the assumptions of those around me. I could have lost myself... to satisfy people who were never actually for me, who were never my people to begin with.

It is often in the hardest battles we fight through, that we begin to become aware of our hidden superpower.

It took me a while to understand that the battles that I have fought, and in some cases am still fighting, were all to defend my God-given right to speak out and to speak up.

I don’t need to understand the threat that people perceive, to recognize that indeed, my ability to use my voice is seen as a threat.

This voice of mine… I have waged wars to use it. I have sustained battle wounds and traumas to ensure that I do not lose it.

I have lost everything and everyone… many times over, to protect what I desired most deeply, which was to leverage the power and influence that comes when we find the courage to share our thoughts. To speak on the things that matter to us, and say the things we want to say.

To share. Whether people are listening or not, there is freedom and healing in being able to vocalize the things that I have to say.

And I have found so much personal peace and transformation just in sharing.

In exercising my ability to say my piece.

And if nothing else, if you're reading these words of mine...I hope that in me leveraging my platform inspires you to do the same.

Your voice is power – I hope you never give anyone the permission to take it away from you.

#speakingup #superpower #usingyourvoice