The other day during my voice lesson, the experience took me to a whole new level. Two years ago when I started working with my voice teacher, I was terrified. And I had a few questions for myself. Who was I to be singing again after 20 years? And how could I spend good money each week on voice lessons when I had no interest in performing? In a moment of clarity, the answer to those questions showed up: I am finding my most authentic voice.
My voice teacher and I found a song that was such an incredible fit for my voice, and I loved singing so much that I was on fire. I found myself humming and singing the tune all day long! It’s a classic jazz song by Ella Fitzgerald, “Cry Me A River.” The groove was right, the key was right, the arrangement fit my voice perfectly, and the sentiment was perfect for what I have experienced in my life. Singing it was magic and easy! And I just felt a huge “Yes” throughout my entire body.
Obviously, this experience around my singing voice is just the tip of the iceberg. And it left me thinking of all of the ways I have been cultivating my authentic voice in my life.
More than anything, I want a life that feels like singing that song felt, where the important ingredients that make up my life create the deep feeling of “Yes!” in every cell of my being.
As I continue to call in my heart’s desires, I can become impatient and feel like nothing is happening at times. Then I am reminded that all of the “No” answers I have been experiencing lately are helping me gain a ton of clarity about what the big “Yes!” looks like. In voice lessons, I have spent two years singing mostly vocal exercises to smooth out the rough patches, train my ears to hear the subtleties better, and strengthen my voice overall. Most days I just wanted to have a voice that sounded good and it seemed like that would never happen!
When I had the pleasure of experiencing what sounds best fit my voice, all of the hard work to strengthen my voice paid off. I realized that all of the preparation and all of the constantly feeling like I was “getting nowhere fast” was part of this important journey. My persistence in “sticking to it” is finally creating some magic in my life.
If you are like me at all, you learned early on that you shouldn’t trust your most authentic voice. So you spent a lot of time trying to be more like everyone else. And slowly, over time, you squelched the creativity that was uniquely yours. And when that creativity was squelched, your heart and soul took a hit. Because your unique spark is required in the world. Expressing it is mission critical to your well-being.
A quote by e.e. cummings leaps to my mind: “To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”
Today I am inviting you to reclaim the authentic voice that is uniquely yours. Not just your speaking voice, but everything about how you show up in the world. Think about the words you use to express yourself, the way you dress, what you like to spend your free time doing, and any other areas of your life.
It’s about walking a journey one step at a time that allows you to gain clarity about what is uniquely you and letting go of everything else. For me, I am realizing there are some things I need to stop doing in my life to be more authentic.
Trust that how you see things, and how you want to express yourself in your life, are pure magic! You don’t need anyone’s permission or approval. I am giving you full permission right now to just be you. It’s more than enough.
