“I Beautiful”: On Hearing My Own Voice

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Awhile back I solicited feedback for a book proposal from a few friends. All of them expressed the same concern: My voice was lost in all the expert quotes. Each chapter summary featured excerpts from bestselling authors, famous psychologists, and notable philosophers. My intention was to ground my points in research and add legitimacy to my thoughts, however, all the references distracted the reader and invalidated the overall premise of the book: to find your voice.

Sensitive Souls

Some people seem to be born with a finely tuned inner microphone. My daughter is one of them. At age two, she wore a patch over her right eye. When mean preschoolers in soiled diapers mocked her, she pushed back her shoulders and said with conviction, “I beautiful.” My husband is like that, too. If someone insults him, he shrugs it off and forgets about it ten minutes later.

Then there are those who emerge from their mothers’ wombs as more sensitive beings. These types may solicit and adhere tenaciously to the advice of everyone around them – mentors, teachers, doctors, friends, self-help authors, and husbands – because they don’t trust themselves. They depend on the assessment and opinions from others to navigate their course and to legitimize their place on the planet.

A History of Second-Guessing

I have been second-guessing myself for a long time. A few weeks into the school year at St. Charles Borromeo Elementary School my teacher called a meeting with my mom to express her concern that my need for feedback and assurance was abnormally high and that I had better learn how to trust my own instincts before graduating to the third grade.

Three years later, my ballet teacher said that while I showed much potential to become a professional dancer, she hesitated to place me in the more advanced classes because I was so easily discouraged.

Finding My Voice

In the last three years, I have been working on identifying and trusting my voice. By spending time in untapped meccas of healing like a horse farm and a nursing home, I have attempted to quiet the inner static that crowds out the faint whisper of truth within me. I’ve carved out moments of stillness when I can hear my wisdom and honor what it has to say.

Asserting myself and analyzing all the unsolicited and solicited advice thrown my way is not without painful side effects. I have had to rearrange every primary relationship in my life because playing another role demands new rules. Gone are the days when I absorb every piece of information without review and immediately execute orders.

Some days I wish I could go back to my former self. There was less fighting and friction, less confusion and ambiguity. It’s much easier to let someone else think for you. A substantial reserve of energy is required to sort through the feedback from a doctor or friend or teacher. It takes cognitive power to pluck out the kernels of wisdom that align with your truth. However, if you continue to live your life by a compilation of other people’s advice, you arrive at a shallow self that resembles my book proposal – fascinating facts, but no soul.

In My Own Words

Here is where I am tempted to insert some poignant quote by an expert who can back up what I am saying.

Instead, I’m going to conclude with my own words and say that although the process of finding your voice can be terribly painful at times, the reward is a sense of self that fosters peace, a solid ground that doesn’t vacillate according to the input of the hour. Your truth can change, of course, but you own it – and before you know it, you’ll be saying to yourself, “I beautiful.”

Photo by Laura LaRosa

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Therese Borchard
I am a writer and chaplain trying to live a simple life in Annapolis, Maryland.

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26 Responses
  1. Jacqueline Hall

    Hi there, Therese. Damn straight. When can I buy it? I think it’ll help me hear me. Love you, Jacquie Hall, almost 86 now.

  2. George

    “You don’t know who you are or what you want.” – isn’t it the necessary state from which only the process of ‘knowing thy self’ can start? Those of us who have reached it already might just be a step ahead on the evolution way from homo sapiens to homo deus, or whatever that ultimate state is called. The pains of growth are at times unbareable, but we can’t reverse this flow anyways. Perhaps we can just embrace being the way we are at this and any other stage.

  3. Ron Lindsay

    I consider this a particularly insightful and valuable piece of writing. Admittedly it resonates with myself so it’s easy for me to experience that sense of “gee whiz, she’s right on the mark”. I wouldn’t have drawn that conclusion 18 months ago. It’s only since around then that I have began to make sense of my own 40 year dance with the devil. At long last, I think I am very very slowly emerging from my latest dance of distress and despair which began around 2005. My first episode being in 1978 as a young man which took about 5 years before a similar but much less wide awakening and included 7 months full board all expenses paid in the local asylum.

    The one major difference this time is an awareness of self that is giving me the confidence and belief in myself to say ‘I beautiful’ – just like your daughter. If I had been like that at 2 years of age, I’m pretty sure my life would have been so different. Wonderful story Therese.

  4. Renata

    Therese, you don’t know how happy I have been about your last three postings… Why? Because I see you shifting to a new, beautiful attitude that I cannot recall ever having seen before. It is like you were in the storm and now the sun is shining and the birds are singing and the butterflies are around, and you are happy. “I beautiful” and “Life is good if you like it” — that little girl of yours is one of your best teachers! May this be Happy and Joyful New Year! Stay this course!

  5. Diane

    What a beautiful piece! Thank you so much. Therese, you have such
    a wonderful expressive talent.
    I have also come into the world ultra sensitive, introspective , and waiting
    to hear from others for me to go forward. It has NOT been easy, in fact,
    even as late as 6 months ago I made such a bad decision (based on the opinion
    of others) that it changed the course of my life and it has become much harder.
    I pray and ask for guidance and to hear that guidance in myself…not from the
    outside. Life is hard, depression is hell, but I am believing that the beauty of
    inner guidance will become louder and clearer.

  6. Melanie

    Yes, this is exactly how I am. I am without a foundation and have always looked around me to define myself. I was born sensitive just as you say in this article. Most people don’t get it and I a only just seeing it myself. I have never had it put into words and this is it, exactly. Thank you!

  7. Jeannie

    I am fairly new to commenting on your thoughts, blog etc. though I follow you and your news letter. I also read Beyond Blue…. everything is so on point for me and all i can say is thank you. You give me a sigh of relief and a feeling that im okay ?

  8. Shelly Holt

    Grateful you are writing your blog again. Thankful for the reminders of what you shared previously. I think about and pray for you often.
    I, too, am finding my own voice. I’ve been a psychotherapist for 7 years because of finding you back in 2009. Got my master’s degree, contemplating my doctorate. Meanwhile, doing something tangible with the beautiful mess of a mind/system God blessed me with…creating a beautiful tapestry of my life!

  9. Mary

    Therese, I am so happy to have found you again! I’m not sure how I lost you and your words that I hung onto so dearly because you speak from a heart that my heart totally understands in so many ways. When you write, please know that there are those who wait for your words because they so eloquently express what we are feeling inside. Thank you for you and what you do. Today, March 11 is a great day because I found you again.

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