Why Your Voice Is Valuable

A common experience of marginalisation is having our voices be sidelined or treated as less important or not important at all. If you hear that message enough, it can start to feel like truth, even when it’s not. Heard enough, you can start to believe it, right down to your bones. But, here’s the real truth; your voice matters. Not only does it matter, it’s valuable and it’s powerful. It might not feel like it. It’ll likely be a struggle to believe sometimes, but it’s true.

So then, you ask, how? How do I unlearn what isn’t true and start to believe what is? I can’t say that I have all the answers- it’s something I’ve struggled with too. But what I have learned is that everyone has a perspective as unique and valuable as each of us as individuals. Our experiences, the good and the bad, have taught us things. We may well have lived the impacts of not being treated kindly and as a result, many of us want to do what we can to prevent others experiencing even a little of that unkindness. Treat others how you want to be treated, right?

Living through unkindness give us firsthand lived knowledge of the impacts of unkindness that we can use to try to help the world be better. Whether it’s channeling that experience into advocating for change, or simply the mark you leave on others by treating them how you would have preferred to be treated, there’s a way for everyone to make something of their experiences. A way for lemons to be turned into lemonade. Like a drop of water, your voice carries the potential to ripple outwards to create waves. So the question is, what kind of ripple and wave will you create?