When I first started this column, I didn’t really know what I wanted to write about. I didn’t have a cohesive theme or umbrella my ideas could naturally fall under. I knew a couple things for sure, that I’d be writing stuff inspired by the ordinary life of an ordinary girl and her heart. Each week inspired something I didn’t account for before.
So I think it would be fitting to end this year’s run with one of the most important lessons I’ve learnt from writing this column this year: voice.
To be really honest, I’ve never been someone with a ton of opinions or had something to add to every conversation. I’d always been a mix of the go-with-the-flow type and a listener. It’s not that I didn’t care, it’s just that in the moment all the dots came together with nothing to point out. Or maybe that was just the fear of having to choose taking over. Most of the time, I could see both sides. And I liked representing both sides so much, I never really let myself fully pick a side.
It wasn’t until I began sitting down each week that I started noticing and questioning things I wouldn’t think twice of and finally deciding what I actually thought. If I hadn’t started writing these down, I really wouldn’t have had anywhere else to place those thoughts I never said.
And the best part was that they were mine, straight from my heart and mind and covered in my personality.
And that alone had to give them value.
Your “voice” is delicate in some ways. It can be influenced by others, held back by fear and hesitation or simply forgotten over time. Your voice could emerge when you feel strongly about something or simply something your heart wants to convey. It’s the merging of your mind and heart into words.
I used to think having a voice meant having strong opinions about something. But it’s really about being honest and listening to yourself, what you do, feel and what you’re willing to say out loud.
Now, it’s one thing to have a voice on paper. It’s another to have one in real life and I’ll admit right now I am far from utilizing that one. But this was the first step. And I’m not done with what I have to say just yet. Everyone has a voice, but it’s up to you whether you choose to use it or not.
Until next time,
From the Heart.
