I’m joining Hope*Writer’s writing challenge from May 10-16 to encourage myself to write and be a part of a writing community. Each day, I will receive a word of the day with 3 different prompts to choose from. Monday’s word of the day is VOICE. My goal is to write about the topic in an hour or less. Yesterday, I started finding my voice, but I didn’t get a chance to finish it as I couldn’t quite formulate my ideas. Today, I finally found my voice!
Sharing my voice feels like taking a bandage off a wound. Sometimes, a deep cut punctures my flesh causing a constant rush of blood to flow out. As I stare at this bloody mess, I feel the pain and ask myself how did this happen. Why did I allow someone to hurt me with one’s words and actions? How could I have prevented this from happening? As I ask myself these questions without any answers, I look down and see blood dripping down my skin.
Immediately, I rummage through my drawer trying to find a bandaid, but I can’t find any. As I go through every drawer in the house, I shout frustratedly, “I need a bandaid. Where is it!?” Finally after looking frantically for what felt like an hour, I cover my wound with a bandage and relieve my mind of the trauma.
As I leave the bandage on for days, I know my wound has stopped bleeding. I don’t dare to take off my bandage because the deep cut is more than physical pain, but I’m reminded of the emotional pain. I don’t want to be triggered by how someone caused this pain, but I must take off the bandage to fully heal. Wanting to fully heal but not having the courage to take off my bandage, I hear a soft voice whisper, “It’s ok; you can take off the bandage.” Does this voice know how much pain I’ve gone through? How can I trust this voice? Am I ready to take off the bandage?
In a gentle tone, the voice reassures me and repeats again, “I am here with you to hold your heart. You can take off the bandaid.” Trusting this small voice, I muster the courage to face my wound. Slowly, I rip off the bandaid. At the corner of my eye, I see an ugly scab form on top of my skin. With my finger, I hesitantly touch the scab and feel that it’s as hard as a rock.
Now as I look at my scab, I ask myself the same questions when I first discovered it. Wanting to avoid the hurt, the small voice lovingly says, “You have courage to face your fears.” Trusting the voice again, I dig deeper to all my questions and concerns this time around. Soon enough, my scab falls off. As my skin heals on its own, I realize that I have found my voice with the help of the small voice. I can share my voice with others to help them take the bandages off and fully find true healing.
