Find your voice

“You must strive to find your own voice because the longer you wait to begin the less likely you are to find it at all.”

Robin Williams

Finding your voice isn’t easy. It takes many iterations and a lot of time to discover what is meaningful to you. It’s a never ending process that contains bumps, turns, and unplanned pit stops. In fact, developing a unique perspective can often take decades.

But every adventure needs to start somewhere. 

Robin is right, the longer you wait, the more likely you’ll never begin at all. What a pity it would be to go through life choosing to sit idle, preferring comfort over something more meaningful. 

This reminds me a bit of Lord of the Rings (LOTR). Bilbo is asked at dinner about going on adventures and he responds, “Nasty, disturbing, and uncomfortable things. Make you late for dinner!” This isn’t shocking because that opinion is actually shared by all hobbits, not just Bilbo.

But another hobbit named Froto decides to overcome this criticism and go on a journey anyway. Throughout the series we’re constantly reminded of his choice as others attempt to dissuade him. Luckily he keeps going, and because of that, we get to enjoy Frodo’s travels and experience his transformation as a character.

A key point is that without Froto’s choice there is no story to write. From Tolkien’s own description,

“This is the story of how a Baggins had an adventure, and found himself doing and saying things altogether unexpected.”

JRR Tolkien

Go on an adventure. Do something unexpected.

Start to find your voice.