Speak Your Truth
From classrooms to meetings, my experience of answering a question with “I don’t know” meant I no longer got to speak. The teacher or leader would move on immediately. And I’m left with a sensation that I was wrong for not knowing.
“We are so accustomed to feeling like we have to know an answer to a question but doesn’t that defeat the purpose of a question? ”
How often do you get to say “I don’t know” and then still go on to answer?
The shame that comes with not knowing an answer gets more overwhelming for one particular question: “what do you want?”
Not only do we have to wade through the guilt of not immediately knowing, we also have to evaluate everything we’ve been told to want since we were toddlers.
To get to the heart of this question requires exactly that – our heart. When we listen to it, we often find that so many answers already live within us.
Holding the space to truly listen can be challenging.
Some of us are fortunate enough to have dear friends and family that do this for us, but there are limits to their availability, patience, and neutrality. Working with a coach was the first time I got to step away from the role of the facilitator and simply answer. Sometimes that started with “I don’t know” and my coach would encourage me to keep going. Whatever I have to say will be the right answer because it is my truth.
So if you’re wondering what you truly want but you can’t clear out the noise on your own, ask a coach to support you. They can be the microphone for the voices within you until you’re ready to reliably speak from your truth.
The world needs to hear you.
💬 SO I WANT TO ASK YOU
Try to answer this without using “I should”—what do you want?
Not sure where to start? Let’s figure it out together.
