The Power of Voice
On July 5, 2019 my husband rushed me to the hospital at 4 o’clock in the morning. Struggling to breath and unable to speak, my throat had swollen until my face lacked definition from my neck.
Surgery for a thyroid duct cyst in my throat had become infected due to my poor judgement. At 2:00am I was sitting upright on my couch unable to rest comfortably, hoping to make it through the night and to my doctor’s appointment the next day. By 4:00am I knew I needed a trip to the emergency room and yet i still debated twenty minutes about waking my husband and son for the middle of the night trip.
All of the thoughts running through my head pointed to, “No, let’s not wake him up. I can wait until the morning.” I came up with many reasons but in the end I went to the restroom, looked at my face and neck and truly believed that if I didn’t go to the emergency room I would be dead by morning.
We woke up our kid and jumped in the car. I was no longer able to speak and had to use sign language to let him know where the hospital was. Even with a July 4th crowd in the emergency room the hospital reception staff took one look at me and admitted me into emergency immediately.
I was in surgery within hours and remained in ICU for three days still unable to speak. That is a lot of time to think in silence.
I now believe that illness can physically manifest in your body as an expression of your mental pain. Looking back at my life, I understand that I was raised in a home where children were to be seen only when helping an adult with a task, and they were not to be heard. It does not surprise me now that this would and did manifest into throat and speech problems as an adult.
I have always been interested in self discovery and the healing arts and I began to study eneI have never stopped. And as I gained the confidence in my own voice, I began to work through all of my beliefs. I began speaking up more at work. I learned how to use my energy and express my thoughts wisely. With grace and determination I built my self-confidence and was able to speak my truth.
We have an inner voice and then we have our physical voice. I like to think of the voice as the tool of the body used to express the mind. The voice is so incredibly important. It is there to communicate our needs in order to be safe and secure. It is also there to verbalize creativity and to build bonds of community.
If you’ve ever heard a church choir, gone to a concert or listened to poetry being spoken aloud you understand the power of communicating through voice.
Our voices create deep meaning and beauty in this world. When we don’t use them because we
- are afraid of what will happen and how people will judge us or
- we don’t believe people are listening or want us to even say anything, then
- we are living outside of our truth
And now I use my voice to help women, who like me, believe that their voice matters. I help women who don’t understand how to use their voice in the world so that it can be heard. Learning how to speak to power in the workplace creates the opportunity to be the example of how to communicate for your co-workers.
Your power is when you are speaking from a place of grace, thoughtfulness and warmth.
My intention is to help guide women into their voice and power so that we no longer stop speaking because we think it won’t make a difference.