Every time I lift pen to paper I am taking a risk. My words could fall short of the story I'm striving to tell or the message I'm yearning to communicate. I could fail.

Singing is risky too, when anybody's around. My voice could wobble or go off-key. I could get funny looks, or feel embarrassed or ashamed.  

If I don't write and share my work, I am dissolving a dream. And if I don't sing in community, I miss out on the joy of making music together.

Much of the wonderfulness of life requires risk.

It's more comfortable to eliminate that possibility. I can do this with a label. "I'm not a singer," or "I'm not a writer," are easy things to say. Easy labels. They make me feel safe again.

Once I adopt these labels, I can maintain an identity that doesn't need to be challenged, changed, or put at risk.

Yet this steals delight, opportunity, and richness from my life.

Who would you be if you didn't already know? How much fun could you have? What if you tried some things and practiced some other things and learned some techniques and gained inspiration that catapulted you to creating wonderful sounds and beautiful songs and words and stories?

It starts with dropping the labels.

Today, if you hear yourself saying, "But I'm not a . . . " Stop, for a split second, and add the word, "yet."


Image: with Free Your Voice co-teacher, voice coach Marie Black of Holistic Voice