“What can I do? I’m just one person.”
“My voice gets lost.”
“How do I mobilize other people?”
“Will this one step I have taken make a difference?”

In a sea of so many voices and so much going on, it can feel like an individual voice or action can be lost or missed. While that may be possible, you might be surprised at who is listening and is impacted.

Often times, we never get to see how our actions or words make an impact. Or we think that doing this minor task does not make that much of difference.

What if we take a different perspective or even try a reframe? Every action or time we speak up we make an impact. Not only in the world around us but in ourselves. When we take the time to use our voice in defense or in honor of something we believe in, like suicide prevention or social justice, we are changing. We build ourselves up and change our own ability to interact in the future. Once we have done something new, challenging, nerve racking, etc. a few times it becomes easier to do in the future.

It is not always easy to stand up, especially when there is stigma in the case of suicide prevention, mental health, or when it comes to social justice and the risk of losing something because it goes against the system. You have grown stronger in the process and changed the complacence that this culture can sometimes breed about taking a stand.

When you do speak up or take an action, it does change the world and the life of someone. When we make the choice to say or do something, even if no one is around to witness it, we have changed the status quo and opened the door for others. Lao Tzu once shared, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” It takes one person to take the first step. And now, what if many people took the first step? Imagine the impact that it could have. The amount of action that would be taken. The choir of voices singing in harmony. Your voice matters!

“Speech is the voice of heart,” according to Anna Quindlen. Remember if you think that your voice does not matter, it does. Keep speaking up! If we all are complacent about suicide prevention or social justice, then nothing does change. When we do allow ourselves to speak from the heart, the words land a whole different way with people. They hear or feel the impact on a whole different level.

As we conclude this post, we have two parting thoughts for you from the words of Maya Angelou and Arvo Pärt respectively.

“Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.”

“The Human Voice is the most perfect instrument of all.”

Thank you all for making a difference in the world! We couldn’t do it without you!