Speak Your Thoughts
What is Stopping You from Speaking Your Thoughts?
“Speak your thoughts”
I’ve been told this before, but sadly I don’t.
“What’s stopping you from speaking your thoughts?”
I’ve been asked this probably a hundred times, but that doesn’t exactly make me want to speak my thoughts anymore than now.
Lately I have been mulling about it. The question popped up in a conversation again and it stumped me. Why indeed? Why don’t I speak my thoughts? I’ve got thoughts, I’ve got opinions, yet I shy away from voicing them out. Why is that? The sad part is that all this time I knew the answer, but never really addressed it. Why? It was because I was afraid. Afraid of not fitting in, afraid of rejection, afraid to be shut down, and afraid of confrontation.
Afraid of Not Fitting in
“I don’t have friends because I don’t fit in. I’m nothing”
Forget about fitting in, the deep root of this is I’m scared of not being able to make friends. Friendships are important because they help you grow, they help shape you. But because we live in a society where we value the quantity of friendships and the number of followers, we’re led to unconsciously believe that we have to be part of a big friendship group to matter.
Afraid of Rejection
“If my friends don’t like my thoughts,then they don’t like me too.”
It’s human nature to want to be liked, it’s just how it is and there’s nothing wrong with it. But where it starts to get tricky is when we wave our likes (👍) and hearts (❤) like some kind of trophy telling other people that this amount of people who value us and this sometimes sends a message to people that if they don’t have as much people liking them, then they’re one of the odd ones, a reject, no no one want to be called that.
Afraid to be Shut Down
“My thoughts are regarded as nothing anyway, so I’ll just shut up.”
When we voice our opinions, we usually state it because it’s what we believe and it’s only normal to feel “off” when someone disagrees with you. People will shut you down by either shoving their opinions down your throat or completely just dismissing you, making you feel invisible, either experience is not so pleasant.
Afraid of Confrontation
“I’m scared. I don’t want trouble.”
While a lot of people can stand their ground and be calm and peaceful while doing so, others can’t. There will be people who feel the need to be overly aggressive about standing their ground, going as far as violence.
We live in a “cancel culture” world and it is scary.But you know what? I realized that life is too short to be afraid of these things. We do this in the real world, because we have to, we have to survive out there. By “survive” I mean we have to make ourselves personable, because how we look, how we act, and how we interact with people around us will certainly have an effect on our social standing. And it’s not just us too, this extends to our family, friends, and all of our loved ones. I want to be able to speak my thoughts, but just because I want to, doesn’t mean I can just *snap* I can speak now. There are a lot of factors to consider.
I really look up to the people who are brave to speak their thoughts. However, because I can’t do that, at least not yet, I will start small, and speak my thoughts in a place where I can get the least amount of backlash. Where people don’t know me and I don’t know them. Hopefully a place where they won’t be able to find a way to me IRL unless I let them.
That’s how I found my way to Tin Can, I get to comfortably speak my thoughts. Whether it be on an open social group talk, intimate 1-on-1 talk, or through an audio journal, I get to work on voicing my thoughts on a community while talking with strangers. I hope you will too. Speak your thoughts and find people who think like you. Join me in this adventure and I hope this sparks you to start your own adventure.
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