Stifle yourself. Be seen and not heard. No one cares what you think! Those phrases are woven into the fabric of a woman's life. Your voice doesn't come with a mute button. You have a story to tell. An opinion on things that matter. A voice.
There is beauty in silence. My mom used to say don't open your mouth and let your belly rumble. This is good advice.
Save your voice for what matters. Save it for subjects you have knowledge about. If you've built a successful business from the ground up, you could advise those starting out. If you've pulled yourself out of the depths of despair and found a new lease on life - you've got street cred.
My sister used to say she'd be a great marriage counsellor because she'd been married 4 times. Let that sink in. LOL. The last person I'd want marriage advice from would be my late sister. But she could talk to me from here to Sunday about persistence and tenacity. She had those traits in the bag.
We look to others instead of ourselves
On the flip side, too many times, we're asked for our opinion, and we look around at others for approval before we speak up. As if our voice doesn't matter. What if we say the wrong thing and don't fit in? We send that message to our daughters every time we look for approval rather than rely on our inner voice.
And that message is, don't trust yourself. What other people think of you is more important than what you feel about yourself.
Our voice doesn't diminish with age. As a matter of fact, the older we get, the more in tune with our voice we should become. A life lived has more wisdom to share. Hopefully, we've fine-tuned our ability to see things from different perspectives.
Not every woman has to be a Michelle Obama or Malala Yousafzai. We shouldn't count on them to carry the flag of Women's Voices. We have a job to do as well—the Divalicious women in the trenches of silence.
Say no to ageism and yes to embracing who you are right now in all your Divalicious Glory. Sing like a bird, my Divalicious Woman. Sing like a bird.
Tag a woman who you think has something to say.