How to Find Your Voice : VOICE | Step 5 of Seven Steps Back to You

Every meaningful conversation begins with a question. I'm Adrienne Giffen, and this is Now You're Talking. In a world of constant notifications and endless scrolling, this podcast is an invitation to pause, get curious, and explore the questions, stories, and ideas that help us reconnect with what matters most. Because conversation builds connection. Let's begin. Last week we talked about allow and giving ourselves permission to move forward. What happens next once we begin to understand ourselves, there comes a moment when we have to decide whether we're willing to let that understanding shape the way we live. That's what we're exploring today.

Last week we talked about allow. We also talked about how life experiences begin to shape us, and from those experiences, they influence the choices that we make. And then, once we've made these choices, we have to decide which ones we carry forward. So, where do we go from here?

Well, the next step is voice and trusting yourself enough to speak, and then having the courage to do it, because it's one thing to have self understanding, but that only takes us so far. The next step is to live. There comes a point where what we've discovered on the inside needs to be reflected in who we are on the outside.

So, what do you mean by that?

Well, many expectations and and rules were placed upon me. I was a wife. I was a mother. I was a business person, and somewhere along the way, I stopped asking myself what I needed until I asked myself a question that changed everything, and that question was would vote me.

Why is that one question so significant?

It was significant because it represented what I had been feeling for a very long time. I knew there was something out of alignment, and it took having courage to voice it, really put it out there, and that made all the difference.

Did that really change things?

Well, it was scary to actually put it out there, but yes, it did because I had the courage. Because we surround ourselves with people, our friends, our family, business people who come to expect us to act a certain way, and when we make a small shift, then everybody needs to shift. People see us as the doer, the the person who carries all the responsibility. And somehow, when we change, everyone around us needs to change a little too.

So, share with us how finding your voice made a significant change.

Well, it made a significant change because once I decided to voice that, what about me? It really gave me the courage to voice who I was authentically in other aspects of my life too, in business, in family, and in friendship. So, really had a ripple effect that impacted who I was in the world authentically.

So, what does finding your voice really mean?

I'll tell you more about what it doesn't mean-it's not about having the louder voice. It's certainly not about being right. It's just really being in alignment on the inside and having the courage to say it on the outside. And maybe it's saying yes to something, or maybe it's saying no to something. Maybe it's setting boundaries for yourself. But somehow, by setting those boundaries, it just feels right.

Sounds like that does take courage.

Well, it does take courage, and having a voice doesn't happen overnight. And that's why we started with uncover. Is you've got to uncover the choices that we've made to get us to this point, and then it's about noticing the patterns that those choices have created in our life, and then it's reclaiming those things that still work for us, and those experiences, those beliefs that no longer work for us, and letting things go, and stepping forward and allowing to to live in a certain way, and that's then the voice. Then through after allow, you have the voice and the courage to to speak your truth.

So, what's one question you'd like people to ask themselves and and reflect on?

Okay, well, so saying when we speak our truth, it can be scary because sometimes we don't want to disappoint people. We don't want people to sort of think differently about us because we're acting in a different way or we've made this shift. So what I'd like to get people to to answer for themselves is what is a question that you're afraid to ask and. Then why are you afraid to ask? Why are you afraid to ask

So where does our journey go from here?

Well, our journey-the next step is emerge, and emerge really is when the the inside is aligned with the outside, and you go forward with authenticity with who you are and transparency, you emerge as as your true self because you're fully aligned with who you really are.

Look forward to learning more.

Today we talked about finding your voice. Next week we'll take the next step: emerge because it's one thing to discover who you are; it's another to live it. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Adrienne Giffen. Every meaningful conversation begins with a question, and conversation builds connection. Visit AdrianGiffen.com and join the conversation, where you'll discover ideas that spark laughter, reflection, and connection with yourself and those around you. Until next time, let the conversations begin.