Have you ever felt stuck? Imagine the following:

• You’re in a fixed position?
• You can’t get away from the situation?
• You can’t seem to change things?
• You don’t know how to move forwards?

This difficult year may have increased that feeling for you, in your life and in your voice. The good news is that there are ways forward; keep on reading!

Did you know that the health and expression of your voice will be linked to what’s going on both in your body and inside you? Finding your authentic voice depends on both of these things.

You and Your Voice

As it is a physical system, your voice will depend on your body and how well that is working. If you are tired, down, unfocussed or ill, then your voice will reflect that.

You will also bring to it the unique energy of your Self; your thoughts, emotions, actions and beliefs. If you are feeling stuck, then your voice will feel stuck as well.

How can you get “un-stuck”?

1. Face why you are stuck: Face your fears

If we run away from our fears they can soon catch up with us. We often develop them as a result of past experiences, and they keep us stuck! You may for example, worry about your voice because it didn’t work as you wanted it to once in a performance, or someone told you that they didn’t like it. Perfectionism also derails many people, especially when it comes to vocal performance. How can we deal with these things?

• Ask yourself whose expectations are you trying to meet? Why?
• What if you gave yourself permission not to be perfect?
• If you allowed your voice to come out, what is the worst that could happen? Is it really so bad?

2. Reframe your beliefs

Throughout our lives we develop beliefs about situations, about others and about ourselves. These are not always true (really), and guess what, they keep us stuck! What can you do if you have a belief about yourself or your voice that is holding you back from fully expressing yourself? Here are some suggestions:

• Make a note of every time you say “should” and change it for “could”. Life is full of imaginary “shoulds” that get in the way of our expressing who we really are.
• Take some time to note down the beliefs that keep you stuck then reframe them. “What if I could? – how would I do it?”
• Get in touch with what the real you wants to say. Then give yourself permission to say it, in your voice.

3. Develop your technique and knowledge

You may not know what you don’t know, and that can keep you stuck in your vocal development. There are ways to overcome this. Developing skills gives you greater control and this goes a long way to helping overcome fear and limiting beliefs. Here are some ways forward:

• Ask for an objective assessment from a professional voice teacher. They will give you a balanced view (if they don’t, get a second opinion!).
• Take a course or a series of lessons. Work towards definite goals.
• Read around and listen to others. Avoid getting stuck in comparisons.
• Practise!
• Let go of the idea that anyone is ever perfect. They are not. Do the best you can now, with what you’ve got.

Don’t stay stuck!

I hope you’ve found this useful. If the ideas have resonated with you and you’d like to explore how personal coaching and/or vocal work could help you, please do get in touch and let me know. I offer a free thirty minute session for those who want to do this. All I ask is that you let me know what resonated and why!

More free resources

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Look out for free webinars and other exciting resources coming up in the next couple of months.

Thanks for reading.