Discovering your voice through journaling

You are a unique individual with a unique voice.

Your thoughts are unique, and so is your perspective. You observe the world daily, take in all kinds of information, and make sense of what you see. You interpret through your lens, which was and is shaped by culture, education, and the people around you. As a result, you developed your unique perspective of the world.

Even though you are unique, you may not have the opportunity to discover your voice.

Your voice is your way of expressing your perspective to the world. There are many ways to discover your voice. You can speak, sing, write, make a video…etc. One way that has helped me and many others is writing, specifically journaling.

Everyone’s writing style is unique and different because writing is about combining your tone, sentence structure, pattern, word choice, and perspective. As you compose your own writing, you are putting your personal stamp on your work, which makes it recognizable to others. Writing is stringing words together in a specific way that conveys who you are and the perspectives that are unique to you.

Without having a firm grasp of your voice, it is easy for you to be swayed by other people’s voices. Some people are loud and convincing with their voices. Their writing is filled with confidence, and it is easy for you to be pulled in by those voices. However, without your own voice, you will likely be echoing someone else’s thoughts and perspective rather than sharing your perspective with the world.

And the world needs different voices. We are created to have different voices. Different voices allow a group to see the same set of information from different perspectives and leverage someone’s strength to cover someone else’s weaknesses. Your voice is important, and your voice is needed in a group. Your voice is needed at home, work, social settings, and church.

One way to develop your voice, to get to know your voice, is through journaling. Collect your thoughts, and string them into words. You can do that digitally or with pen and paper. Get into a habit of writing down your thoughts in whichever language you prefer. Through the process, you will begin to find your voice and become familiar with your unique perspective.