Good morning 👋
What does it mean to be properly listened to for you?
Growing up with a stutter, I learnt early on how powerful having a voice really is for somebody. It’s something I’ve chatted about a lot on the page over the last couple of years, and what I wanted to write a little bit more about for you today.
Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!
This feeling of being heard, to help others feel heard, or more general actions around owning our voice are beyond important to me.
It’s why I love working in communications.
It’s why I started posting on LinkedIn.
It’s why I first started posting here on Sweeney’s Blogs back in February 2019, and now we’re over 800 posts in; I still feel just as strongly about it as I did way back then. It’s funny how some things just stay with you, don’t you think?
Sometimes, we need to be reminded that we each have a voice. Whether you’re a person or a business, you know it to be true.
Life moves fast – if you take the last couple of months, for example, who would have guessed everything that’s happened? Even if we just take a look from a very quick sports perspective, there’s been the Six Nations, the World Cup, and Wimbledon. That’s only scratching the surface of everything else that’s been going on.
However, our missions, our beliefs, and our motivations can remain the same through it all. You are always free to be who you are as a person, and I’m sure there are loads of people out there who are just waiting to support you with whatever you do next.
It’s what makes for the best content, in my opinion: real people who genuinely want to make a difference in the world – speaking to real people as real people. The emphasis on “real” there is all very intentional. Nobody is perfect; we’re all a work in progress, and that’s what makes us the fantastic and fascinating mystery that we are.
If you’re someone with a stutter who has gained something through my posts, I can’t express how grateful I am for that. If you are someone who hasn’t got a stutter, but has still joined along the way, thanks a lot to you too.
You deserve to be heard. You deserve to be valued. You deserve to be you. Let this be your reminder.
When I look back on photos like the one below, I know that the younger Sweeney would be proud of the progress I’ve made. So, I encourage you to take a few minutes out of your day and do a bit of reflecting.
I originally shared this on my LinkedIn a few weeks back; however, I’ve been having a load of chats where topics and thoughts like this spring to mind, so I thought it’d be good to share this with you lovely lot too!
You never do really know where a good convo may take you, at the end of the day. What does owning who you are mean to you? What, or who, helps remind you that you’ve got a voice?
I’d love to hear what you think 😊
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a lovely day!
James
Sweeney's Blogs 