Use Your Voice

Every living being has a voice.

Some voices are loud. Some are soft. Some are spoken through words, while others are expressed through music, painting, quilting, dancing, gardening, cooking, kindness, or simply by the way someone lives their life. Your voice is the unique way you express who you are, and it deserves to be heard.

You deserve to speak your truth. You deserve to speak the language that feels like home to your heart. You deserve to create, to sing, to write, to laugh, to cry, and to communicate in the way that is most authentic to you.

Sometimes we think using our voice means always being gentle. While kindness is incredibly important, there are moments when a strong voice is exactly what is needed. Raising your voice to keep yourself or someone else safe isn’t wrong. Speaking up against injustice isn’t rude. Saying “No,” setting a boundary, or asking to be treated with respect are all healthy ways of using your voice.

Your voice can whisper.
Your voice can roar.
Both have their place.

At the same time, how we use our voice matters just as much as whether we use it. Our words have the power to comfort, encourage, teach, and inspire. They also have the power to wound. Before speaking, it can be helpful to pause and consider who is listening. Are you talking with a child who is still learning? An elder who deserves patience and respect? Someone who is hurting? Someone who simply needs to feel seen?

Using your voice with fairness, openness, kindness, and compassion doesn’t make it weaker. It makes it wiser.

It’s also worth paying attention to how much space our own voice occupies. Are we listening as much as we’re speaking? Do we leave room for quieter voices to be heard? Are we lifting others up, or unintentionally speaking over them?

If you realize your voice has become louder than your listening, or that consideration for others has slipped from the forefront of your mind, don’t be discouraged. We all have moments we’d like to do differently. Every day offers us the opportunity for a fresh start.

Use your voice to encourage.
Use your voice to protect.
Use your voice to create.
Use your voice to spread love.
And just as importantly, use your ears with the same intention.

When we choose both courageous speaking and compassionate listening, we create a world where everyone has the opportunity to be heard.

And that’s a beautiful thing.
🙂