“I’m indecisive. I’m terrible at making decisions.” I felt this about myself for the longest time.

It is the decisions that seem utterly life-changing that torment me.

Which university course to choose?

Should I stay or leave a business partnership that feels misaligned to me yet very beneficial to my career?

Do I stay persistent and try to make this relationship work or decide that it’s best to let go?

Am I truly letting go what doesn’t serve me, or am I just succumbing to my limiting beliefs??

I scramble to ask for a ton of advice from mentors, friends, anyone.

Since young I’ve been taught to value the opinion of someone who is older, more experienced, especially men or “more masculine” mentors.

My gut would be nudging me towards a particular direction but I couldn’t trust myself to listen to it. I kept second guessing myself over and over again until I get a migraine.

One time, I unexpectedly broke out in tears as I was having dinner with my family as a result of all the pressure and misalignment.

What if I made a wrong decision? I didn’t want to mess up my life.

One day a friend of mine shared a powerful mindset with me that became one of my guiding principles in life.

“Rae, you don’t need to logicalise your decisions. If something doesn’t feel right, that’s a good enough reason to let go.”

And so I let go. I let go of a particular business opportunity that didn’t feel aligned with me, even though my logical brain kept convincing me otherwise (which really is made up of all the advice I’ve gotten from older people over the years).

Once I let go, I achieved my highest income in the next month.

Wow. There’s actually so much wisdom in our emotions. Our body has powerful inner wisdom that know what we need.

My indecisiveness was rooted in fear. Fear of not making the “right” choice. Fear of losing out on life. Fear of looking stupid. All this fear, when the truth is that life is happening FOR us and not against us. There’s no “missing out”, as long as we’re tuning to our inner wisdom every step of the way.

There’s infinite opportunity in the world. Even if we make a “wrong” choice, we’ll get the opportunity to choose again.

Don’t ask for advice. Seek perspective.

Advice is always given through the lens of someone else’s experiences, values, upbringing, biases. No matter how conventionally successful someone may be, they don’t know you better than you. They aren’t living your life, you are.

At the end of the day, we’re the artists creating our masterpiece of life. Our entire life is our work of art, and the beautiful thing about this canvas is that you can use as much paint as you want to hide “mistakes” and change your mind along the way.

Take time to cultivate safety, trust, and deep connection with your voice. Learn how to lean in and listen, all the answers are within you.

As we wrap up 2023 and go into 2024, I invite you to recommit to building a deeper and even more truthful relationship with your voice. Fight for it. Respect it. Guard it – because your voice is your identity and your life force.

I invite you to reflect on these questions:

1. Was there a time when you chose to trust your gut? How did it turn out? How did it feel?
2. When you take away society’s metrics of success (money/ credentials/ material possessions/ recognition), how can you create success “metrics” of your own? What is success to you?
3. How does respecting your unique voice look like and feel like to you?
4. Are you willing to stand by your voice and advocate for yourself, even when others are against it? Even when your loved ones are displeased?
5. How does Owning Your Voice look like in the new year for you? What are you willing to do to commit to Own Your Voice.

I’ll love to hear your responses 🙂

I’ll love to hear your thoughts from reading this email and/or the moments of being you’ll be planning to create over the weekend! Share your insights, discoveries, and photos on Instagram or LinkedIn and tag me there so I can see it!

Alternatively, drop me a DM on Instagram, or join my Telegram Tribe here when you sign up for my newsletter!

and as always, If Owning Your Voice in 2024 is for you to further elevate your speaking and communication, lead tough conversations at work and at home, and grow your brand so you can inspire and uplift your people, you’re invited to join the Own Your Voice 6-months coaching program, find out more here, or watch my free masterclass to get a clearer idea on what your immediate focuses should be in terms of owning your voice.

Also…

And as always, remember you have everything it takes to Own Your Voice.

xx,

Rae