How To Speak With Confidence And Have the Voice That You Deserve

So you are here because you want to know how to speak with confidence. But I don’t have 7 tips, surprising secrets or easy tricks for you. I only have one story that changed my life and my hope is that it will change yours too. 

Every day, I receive emails, messages, and I get comments from people from all around the world. Some of them share their vocal journey with me, some people send words of gratitude, many people ask questions, but all of them are searching for solutions to their vocal problems. Is there hope for me? Am I the only one? Can you help? are just a few examples of common questions. 

Am I Good Enough?

Sometimes, I get emails that really break my heart. These emails have an undertone of giving up and self-limiting beliefs. Am I good enough? Do I belong here? Do I deserve something better? And they break my heart because I know how that feels. 

I am going to share my story hoping that it will inspire you to pursue the voice that you really deserve. The voice that truly represents who you are on the inside. I usually don’t share personal stories but I thought: why not? If my story can help just one person, why not?

My Story: How to Speak with Confidence?

I moved countries a few times in my life. But I remember the time when I came to live in Canada for the first time. This was after I had my share of success as a speech-language pathologist in Europe. I was born and raised in central Europe, and I lived a significant part of my life there too. I studied medicine, speech-language pathology, I worked at a hospital, gave lectures at a university, and participated in research.

However, when I came to Canada, Canadian officials did not recognize my credentials and I had to go back to school and re-take some of my undergrad and all of my master's courses to become a licensed speech-language pathologist in Canada.

As you can imagine, that experience was not a boost in self-confidence. Yes, I was speaking with an accent, I still do. But who doesn’t here in Canada? But I remember that I truly believed that everyone around me could tell right away that I was a foreigner, even before I said anything. I believed that I did not belong here. Not just because of my accent. Even when I was quiet. I literally thought that there was a sign on my forehead that read: "immigrant".

I even started to believe that I was not smart enough and that all my previous success was a fluke. And as a result, I usually sat at the back of the classroom, did not engage in conversations, never put my hand up to ask questions. I was invisible. 

Two months later around the midterm tests in my master’s degree, people started to notice me. My marks were the best in my class. I recall getting 99% on a really hard anatomy test. Well, no surprise! I studied medicine and speech-language pathology in Europe and this was a basic anatomy course! But that was the moment when my schoolmates and my teachers finally saw who I was.

But more importantly, that's when I "saw myself". I realized that my accent does not define me. The sign from my forehead was slowly disappearing. In the end, I won an award and scholarship for the best academic achievements in the program.

But I am not sharing this story to brag. I am sharing this story to illustrate an important concept:

If you accept a limiting belief, then it will become the truth for you. If you believe something in your mind, your body will act like that. A limiting thought can become your reality.  

Be Courageous!

I am here today to encourage you to dream. I am still learning how to dream big and apparently it’s a skill. Let go of your limiting beliefs. I often advise my clients to focus on what they CAN do with their voice, instead of what they CANNOT do. But today, I am encouraging you to go beyond that. Do something new. Be courageous. Whatever that means for you. Do something different and see what happens. It probably will be uncomfortable but do it anyway.

You have a voice and you have the power to change it and mold it and get the voice that you really deserve. 

If you want to hear the story from me, watch this video:

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp4evVqpHNg