Writing Helps Find My Voice

“I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.” — Hafiz of Persia

December’s Voice

Voice is Revelatory
For several weeks now, I’m reflecting on how writing family stories and storytelling are ways of making sense of the world. Putting words on paper clarifies where I stand with all the nonsense and confusion going on. It helps me find my true voice as an act of defiance, resistance. Then, committing to sharing stories and listening to others puts light on what’s important. Storytelling is transformative because of the creativity and authenticity it fosters but, more so as author Cheryl Strayed observed, because storytelling is outrageously revelatory and I find my voice in the sharing.

Writing nurtures my sense of wonder, lays bare the struggles with disorder and frustration and reassures me change is the only constant. When at odds with what’s in the newspapers or running endlessly on social media, connecting with those who go to work in times of chaos “speaking, writing and doing language” writes Toni Morrison brings strength and resilience.

Uncover Voice 
Finding our voice is personal when we engage authentically in language our own way. Sometimes writing, sometimes speaking and reading, often listening. Think about the stories scattered around Thanksgiving and Christmas tables. Friends and family sharing sometimes profoundly personal stories full of heartache and hope. Why? Perhaps looking for a touchpoint between ourselves and others helps us realize we’re not orbiting this planet alone. When a storyteller dips beneath the surface exposing a soft belly, a connection resonates because it’s felt by all because feelings and life themes are universal.  My Uncle Jim, decades later, recalls being teased at school…but chooses to talk about the kind words of a young friend. Among the rubble there is a jewel.

The language of poetry tells its own stories. W.S. Merwin said [a poem] “begins at once to evolve an existence of its own, in minds and lives, and then even in words, that this singular maker could never have imagined.” A Blessing by James Wright is like this, deeply touching and transformative in the way it is life-changing for me. Wright memorializes the day he and his friend climbed through a barbed fence to visit two ponies grazing alone: They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness/That we have come. It’s a triumph of a poem, a gentle benediction ending with Suddenly I realize/That if I step out of my body I would break/Into blossom. Oh, how these lines carry a comforting spirit that beneath my anxious thoughts, I find a new voice…that I am loved.

Generation After Generation
My great-great-grandfather farmed our land and tended the earth; now many generations later my young nephew. Rising early sweating through the summer months to celebrate their harvest bounty, they were thankful looking back at what seemed improbable that drought, grasshoppers and disease didn’t take the crops. What evokes gratitude for you?

Family stories are like time capsules. The themes of family, love and loss are models of the world and how we fit into them. Shared family stories build courage and resilience—hope. This is the stuff that links us together and we begin to understand the ways people live out their lives, generation after generation, finding their voices and sharing common and sometimes, extraordinary events that may, after all not be unique to them. The difference between us separated by six degrees. – Becky Breed

Writing and Creative Exercise:
1. Read Once in the 40s by William Stafford and What I Learned from My Mother by Julia Kasdorf. What did reading them bring up for you?
2. Before your next family gathering, reflect on family stories that convey strength of character, difficult decision-making or showcase a person living a life of purpose and meaning. Take time to think about how to tell the story. Share with family members. Consider writing the story in a personal journal or pen a poem using the storyline as motivation.
3. Make connections with family members who hold different beliefs than you. Ask questions about which family member serves as a role model or mentor to them. What was the role they played? What were the take-aways from the relationship? Do they aspire to be like them? Are there any parallels in your life? If writing, your first sentence could be: ”I always looked up to…”
4. Sometimes when I’m writing third person is used. Why? It feels safer and I can be bolder and more courageous with words. For example, the birthday celebration where SHE put her cousin’s moccasin in water to see it float. Do you have any stories like this? Find your voice and tell or write your story.
5. Visit your favorite art center. Slowly browse the artwork. What emotions or feelings were aroused? How is it meaning-making for you? Create a piece of art that conveys your voice and tell someone about it.
6. Click on YouTube Nebraska Storytelling Festival 2024 to hear wonderful personal and transformative stories.

For more inspiration, check out our website www.thewritingandcreativelife.com.

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