What happens when we speak up?

This year I learnt lots of important lessons about speaking up.

When we speak up we’re being our authentic selves instead of hiding who we are.

When we speak up we give people that care about us the opportunity to support us.

When we speak up it’s how we express that we value and care about ourselves.

When we speak up it says that we aren’t willing to dismiss our feelings.

This theme is particularly significant to me because I used to find it really hard to do. I would think, let me not say anything, I don’t want to make a big deal out of it or everyone else is fine so let me not rock the boat and mess things up.

At the time, I had no idea that I was just diminishing my feelings and didn’t have the confidence to say what was on my mind.

And, this is not about speaking up in difficult situations, it’s about finding it difficult to speak up in general. For anyone that finds it difficult, I can tell you that things get a lot easier when you learn how to do it. And you learn how to do it by just giving it a go again and again without worrying about getting it right.