I Didn’t Lose My Voice. I Learned to Stop Editing It.

For years, people would have said I spoke up. I ran meetings. I made decisions. I gave feedback.

What I didn't notice was how much of that voice had been shaped by the rooms I was standing in.

If you look composed on the outside and quietly wonder where you went, I want you to hear this: you're not imagining it. You're not ungrateful, and you're not broken. Adjusting is how a lot of capable women survived. It works, right up until it doesn't.

In a new personal essay for Influential Women, I wrote about three things that changed for me:

1. Finding my voice didn't mean getting louder. It meant noticing what I'd edited out.

2. Letting people help. "We don't only mask neurological differences. Sometimes we mask need."

3. Redefining strength. Not endurance, but knowing when more is actually helping.

The line I keep coming back to: "Not every voice that helped build your life deserves permanent authority over it."

Which voice in your head is answering questions you never asked it?

Thank you, Influential Women, for sharing this one.