Episode 56: The Exclusion Experience and Emerging out from the Suppressed Voice

Dare To Share Your Untold Story

Tanya takes a deep dive in sharing some delicate parts to her untold story. She explained that she went from being an out-going, full of energy, enthusiastic and bold in personality, to suddenly losing her voice, finding herself with the inability to communicate. Her story dates back more than 20 years ago, where she entered the corporate world as a young female of colour, heavily dominated by alpha males. There were many contributions to the loss of her voice, one of them a term not known to her at the time, but that of microaggression. It got to the point where she wouldn’t speak, contribute, or give her opinion in meetings, even when she was asked. During the conversation, Tanya was able to connect to what contributed to the loss of her voice, getting in touch with her inner critic, learning about imposter syndrome and reclaiming her voice. Tanya highlighted how the immense stress that she was under manifested into a physical health ailment – hypothyroidism, she learned about this illness, and learned that there was a connection where “it was all stuck in my throat”, and that it is the stress that brings it out. She experienced difficult emotions that she required to process such as fear and sadness, and often felt frozen or numb and had a hard time feeling peace or calmness. Tanya also shared how her lack of voice penetrated in her personal relationships and connected to some generational aspects where women are seen and not heard and raised with the mindset that one must take care of others before themselves. She spoke about the moment of realization that she has what is needed to contribute, while she is staying quiet, others would share exactly what she had in her mind. Her key message to the listeners is that: everything that shows up outwardly, starts inwardly; if you don’t take care or advocate for yourself, you are not using your voice; it is important to take care of yourself first so that you can stand up and take care of others.