Speak Up, Your Voice Matters

If there is something that I want the upcoming generations to know more than anything else, it is the importance of speaking up in life; this unbreakable and unshakable right.

Life will throw situations our way that will tempt us to stand up and speak up either for ourselves or in support of others around us.

Following- thoughts on this underrated superpower.

1. Speak up in life

You are responsible for your life. Often times, we look to our parents, our older siblings, or our partners to defend us or to speak up for us. We, however, are the only ones who understand what we are going through and thus know what we need the most- and though there is no shame in allowing others to defend us, the reality is that the unexpected, the entropy in the universe has a way of teaching us to fend for ourselves and depend solely on us at some point in our lives. Practice speaking up for yourself with courage. You are your own lawyer every day, when you board the metro rail and someone nearby makes a suggestive comment, when your car breaks down in the middle of the freeway, when someone yells out a discriminating remark your way, when everyone around you rejects your views, your opinions, your beliefs, your personal convictions- you are your own lawyer- as you start to speak up for yourself, you will surely start to build your mental strength and conviction. This is beneficial not just for you but for everyone around you, for those who look up to you, those depending on you. At times, you may not even realize that as you speak up for yourself, you may be speaking for others - just there, as you courageously stand up for yourself, you may be standing for an entire mass- a movement waiting for its moment of change.

2. Speak up at work

Policies, protections, guidelines, rules they are all written down in a manual, stored away at a hidden archive in the human resources department at work. The words are dead until you take them into your own hands. You have power to protect yourself at work; new policies are being implemented at every moment because of those who speak up, those who voice their way into justice and create change. Don't wait passively until someone else speaks up, instead, be that example to look up to. Also don't conform, don't solely depend on just written provided protections, but also protect yourself as a human being. Statutes like- freedom of thought, freedom of expression are universal rights; no one can take these rights away; humans have died for the sake of these rights- have courage when you feel overwhelmed and stand firmly on these protections.

3. Speak up to yourself

Just as we have the power to speak up for ourselves, we most importantly have the power to speak up to ourselves. Very often, certain events in life can have severe impacts in us as human beings- it may be failed plans, unmet expectations, loss, all of these things can take over and take the wheel of our intentions and our journeys in life. The mind becomes captive to the recurring thoughts on these unfortunate events and we become slaves of sadness and depression. Although these processes are sometimes necessary, we must go through them, we also have the power to take over- take the wheel back and make an effort to be more intentional than ever. Speaking up to ourselves is probably the greatest battle of our young age that will hopefully one day become the greatest joy of our old age. Speak up for yourself, but most importantly speak up to yourself, build yourself up.

4. Speak up for others.

When you are in a position of influence in knowledge, in resources, in experience; we have the social responsibility to speak up for others right behind us. Life is richer when we thrive together, when we are able to bring not just ourselves into solid ground and into victory, but when we are able to look to others and provide the same support, the same effect, when we help carry on these same victories in other's lives. When we are all gone, our legacy is the one thing that is left of us- our life's work shouldn't be confined to just our name, but rather expand to the outermost corners of the world. This is the opportunity we have in life, to make an impact in others, to speak up and create impact in other's lives.