Want to Find Your Voice? Tell Your Stories

‘Find your voice’ seems to be one of those catch cry phrases loaded with meaning that is not altogether obvious. 

I first came across this idea in a writing workshop.  In order to write well I needed to find my voice, as if it was somehow hiding under the bed with all the missing pens, lost credit cards and sunglasses, and I just wasn’t looking hard enough.

Slowly I came to understand, what I think it means to ‘find your voice’. 

It is like finding your way to your best, most expressive, relaxed and imaginative self.  It is a flow from the depths of your being, unfiltered by doubt.

It can still be targeted, carry a message, have a purpose and with an audience in mind, but it has an authenticity, courage and confidence about it that draws people in.  

Not everyone, and that is ok.  In fact that is part of the secret of finding our voice.  It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t draw anyone in, it is good for its own sake.

Using your voice is about not trying to please everyone, but accepting that who we are and what we have to say is enough; it is believing that we will resonate, engage and touch the people who feel and like the energy, character and purpose of the voice.  Your voice.

The clarion call to ‘find your voice’ is not reserved for writers, but it does seem to be the bedrock of creative pursuits.  Creativity is after all an expression of who we are, and so connecting with our authentic selves, with our voice, then allows our creativity to flow.

So to storytelling.

Personal oral storytelling is one of the best ways to find, explore and develop our voice.   For starters storytelling literally is our voice as we speak, so we are working as close to source as we can get.

But using our voice is not the same as finding our voice.  We have all spoken or heard wooden words, flat line readers, dullsville droning.

It takes nurturing.  Learning, support, practice and play.

Finding our stories, crafting them and then learning to tell them, draws us to find our authentic voice. 

The story itself wants expression, emotion, drama and meaning.  Working with it teaches us what our voice is, it allows us to know who we are and how to show that to the world.

Finding and using our voice takes courage, but what else are we put on this earth for, if not to give voice to the true expression of who we are?

Come join us at Story Wise, to begin the journey of finding your voice.