I’m not good at speaking.

I don’t know what to say.

I have nothing new to add – someone else has already said what I want to say.

What’s the point; who would listen anyway?

These are some “reasons” I’ve given over the years for not speaking up, for not putting up my hand when an opportunity was offered, for holding back on my opinion when I disagreed with the way a group discussion was going.

I won’t say I don’t do it anymore.

It is a continual work in progress.

Some days I make progress.

Some days I regress into old patterns and bad habits.

Sometimes, just after I say yes to something that sounded amazing at the time, I freak out and panic, thinking “Why did I say yes? What have I let myself in for?”

But a part of me also believes that each of us is unique.

We are not here by accident.

Each of us is here for a reason.

There is something inside us that is aching to be expressed – and only we can express it in a certain way that certain people will resonate with.

And if we hold back because we are afraid, those people will miss out on the connection – the magic – the “what might have been”.

If we make it less about us individually (my fear, my anxiety) and more about the bigger purpose and picture that we are a part of, then speaking up becomes a Sacred Duty rather than an impossible burden.

If not you, then who?

If not now, then when?