And so, he has a question: is it wrong to quote yourself?

His reply:

I mean, I’m a writer. That’s what I do. I. Write. Words.

Own your voice. Then give it away. Be of benefit. Don’t listen to degraded trolls who have nothing better to do than misquote you.

This is one of the fundamental lessons we celebrate and teach inside Elephant Academy’s Write your Heart Out course.

Own your voice, after you find it. Speaking up takes courage, because others will always demand that you be smaller, and shut up. Ultimately, we have no choice but to question ourselves, learn, move forward, and practice our care and craft.

Owning your voice may sound aggressive or scary, but it can be done with gentleness and authenticity in our everyday lives. Why? Because our voices are not something we only use to write. We use them to speak up in difficult conversations with our loved ones and neighbors. We use our voices to write text messages and to explain ourselves in that work email we’ve been avoiding, for a day or two—let’s be honest. Our voices are what we use when we post to Instagram and when we speak up during that Zoom yoga class.

Our voices are a fundamental right and they are a privilege that we are born to exercise.

What is your experience?