Friday Weekly Nuggets 04: Yours ideas may be better than you thought

How to find your voice and share more of your thoughts and ideas with the world

When I was younger, I always thought there was the perfect thing to say in every situation. So I would avoid sharing my opinion because I thought I had not yet attained the status of knowing what that perfect thing was nor was I an expert hence it was better to keep my mouth shut. Then something strange happened; I interned at a company while I was in University where I was often compelled to share my thoughts. My colleagues would usually find what I said insightful or so they would say. And people would reach out to ask for what I thought on topics and would ask for my advice on different situations.  I would think to myself “Hold on a minute, do these people know that I am no expert on these topics”

Oddly enough, it turns out that’s all you need most of the time. Most of your knowledge or personal experiences that you think are not a big deal can be life-transforming to another person. This became even more meaningful to me when one day a friend texted me out of the blue to tell me that conversations we had months back, helped her out of depression and possible suicide. First off I did not know she was going through something that deep and everything I spoke about during our conversation were things I knew from experience and by reading and I was by no means an expert.

To summarize these lessons in two points:                                                              

1.       If you feel you haven’t found your voice or know what to say, keep using your voice. “You find your voice by using it”- Austin Kleon. Not every issue requires our opinion. We however ought to share them in areas that are important to us despite the feeling of inadequacy and not being an expert.

2.       “Give what you have to someone, it may be better than you dare to think” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow¹

1. Thanks to Lord Archidago for helping read drafts of this.