Speak your mind, even if your voice is shaky.
-- Maggie Kuhn

Even when you aren’t really sure of your words, you are sure of how you feel and you feel something that needs to be said. You’re not sure how to say it; you may stumble over every word or say the wrong thing. You aren’t even sure how your words will be received or even if they’ll be received. But you know you must get it off your chest. You have no choice.

You may have to practice what you want to say standing before a mirror, rehearsing your tone of voice, choices of words, facial expressions, hand gestures, and body language. You may have to write it down, put it in a letter or an email, maybe even make it poetry. You may need to run it by your best friend first to determine whether you’re saying what you feel clearly and to gauge what a response may be.

But you know you have no choice. You must get it off your chest.

Silence kills. It kills spirits. It kills hope. It kills possibility. It kills abundance. Silence cancels freedom and liberation. It marks out dignity and self-confidence. It takes away inner peace and happiness. Silence builds up resentment and rage and makes you have angry conversations in your mind. It can make you sick, raising your blood pressure, lowering your ability to manage stress, thus inviting a susceptible immune system that protects you from nothing. Silence can eat away at your insides until all you feel is hollow, empty, and weak. If you remain silent, have no voice, allow others to speak for you, back down for the sake of peace or because you’re a little (or a lot) nervous about the outcome, expect to be in a lonely place or be in an early grave.

A friend often said, “Speak on your thoughts.” Another offered what writer Audre Lorde believed - you’re never really a whole person if you remain silent. God made you whole and He gave you a voice with plenty of good sense and gumption to use it. Say what’s on your mind whether you need to shake and shiver it out, mumble and mutter it out, or shout, scream, and cry it out. Whatever your mode, just get it out.

You have no choice.

Sadiqqa © 2007