Finding Your Voice In Your Quietness

Do you know that there could be some times when instead of talking, all you just have to do is to be quiet? Do you know that there could be times when instead of complaining, hissing and murmuring, all you just have to do is to be quiet? You see, words are not meant to be said every time because quietness may solve most problems about yourself.

There is peace in silence. There is peace in being quiet. But you shouldn’t be quiet when the need arises for you to speak out against injustice and whatnots. There’s always a time when all you just need, in order to find yourself, is to be quiet.

'Yourself' is in your 'voice'.

Talking too much can get you distracted. Talking too much can rob you of too much. Talking too much can make you lose some you-never-knew insights about yourself. You lose a lot from your being when you talk too much. In your quietness, you can find yourself. In your quietness - by observing yourself - you can actually discover where you fit in and where you don’t fit in, what you tolerate and what you don’t tolerate, what moves you and what bores you, where you can stand and where you can’t stand.... In observing yourself in your quietness, you will discover a lot of things about yourself which you would never discover when you're busy talking and talking and talking.

You can find yourself in your quietness by listening to other voices. In talking instead of listening, you won’t find yourself. In the world today, there are many voices in different field. Of course, we can’t deny that. We know almost all of them. For example, in the writing community, there are voices like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Wole Soyinka, Nnedi Okorafor, Rupi kaur, Alex Elle, Nayyirah Waheed, Nikita Gill, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, Najwa Zebian, Marisa Donnelly and the likes. And also in the music scene, there are many voices like Asa, Adele, Jay Z, Eminem, Rihanna, Labrinth, Justin Beiber, Beyonce, Passenger, Ed Sheeran and the likes. In the political arena, there are also voices like Goodluck Jonathan, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Theresa May, Olusegun Obasanjo, Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron and the likes. And also in the athletic/sporting community, there are voices like Cristiano Ronado, Usain Bolt, Lionel Messi, Paul Pogba, Serena Williams, Shabazz Muhammad, Maya Moore, Steph Curry, Anthony Joshua, Shaquille O'neal, Triple H, Undertaker and the likes. And while I'm also trying as much as possible not to bore you, this lengthy article would be incomplete without mentioning some voices in the entertainment industry, such as Samuel L. Jackson, Issa Rae, Luvvie Ajayi, Oprah Winfrey, Lupita Nyong’o, Trevor Noah and the likes. Here's the thing: What they do is their voice. Their voice is actually what they are known for. It is their voice that makes each of them unique from the other. In your quietness, as you observe these people, what they do and how they do the things they do, you will soon find yourself, too. And when you’ve found yourself, you’ve found your voice.

You are not alone. You won’t be the last, neither will you be the first. Your voice may be like theirs, but yours will definitely stand out amongst the rest like theirs have, too. By listening to their voices – what they do, what they support, what they identify with, their causes, their visions, you will soon find something in them that you can find in yourself too, you will soon find something identical - something you can see in them which you’re just so surprised to discover in yourself too. Then you’re like: where have ‘yourself’ being all this while? Well, you’ve been talking too much. You've not being taking cognizant details about yourself. You never cared about these little things about yourself, and you never knew that your self-discovery can only take place in your quietness.

Now you know.

Be quiet. Find peace in yourself. Be still. Be at peace with yourself. Observe yourself. Look within yourself. Study your being. Permit yourself to flow naturally and effortlessly. Don't force anything out of you. Don't force anything into you. Just breathe freely and live freely. Be interested in who you are and who you can also become. Love and live the real you. Dwell in your own personality. Just be who you are, for “in your quietness, and in listening to many voices, you will find your voice.”

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