Your Inner Voice is More Reliable Than Their Voice

Inspiration

By Ellen Pitts / June 8, 2017

I keep a binder on my desk entitled “Inspiration.” Because sometimes I need it. Today is one of those days. This week is one of those weeks.

Yesterday some of you may have seen me post the below inspirational video of a totally deaf woman, Mandy Harvey, performing a song she wrote on America’s Got Talent. Beyond the raw emotion of her performing a seemingly impossible feat, I couldn’t help but imagine the steps she must have taken to get there. The weeks, months and years of choosing to believe in herself when in the back of her head, there was surely that niggling voice telling her, “You’re deaf. Get over it. You can’t be a musician.”

We all have that voice. I do. I’m confident Mandy Harvey did and does.

And I’m also sure there were plenty of people who added to that voice in Mandy’s head by telling her to find something more suitable for a deaf person to do. Because other people never can see what we see in ourselves. We are our own best cheerleader. It’s much easier for people (ourselves included) to criticize what we see in others rather than to invest the hard work into developing our undeveloped talent until it bears fruit.

Mandy chose not to believe them. She chose to dig deeper, to her own inner voice, the one that we hear only haltingly, when we envision ourselves living within our gifts, when for that brief moment, we really can imagine being that musician, entrepreneur, inventor, counselor, teacher or whatever your little voice tells you is your gift.

I keep the binder so I have reminders whenever I’m feeling like what I’m trying to do is too difficult or when I encounter obstacles that seem insurmountable. Whenever I read an article or story that’s moving or inspiring, I add it to my binder. Since I can’t keep this in my binder it’s going here where I can find it the next time I have this kind of week.

If you haven’t already watched it, enjoy the video below.