Guest Post | Finding Your Inner Voice

Updated on April 29th, 2024

Today I have a guest post about finding your inner voice from Sanjana who runs The Female Professional.

Learning to be true to yourself can be an elaborate ball of frustration. Who am I? Am I a good person? Does my voice matter? Am I unique?

A part of being yourself, and understanding who you are is listening to your inner voice. Understand who they are, what they want, like, or don’t like, and what drives them.

Our inner voices play a large part in the decisions we make, whether we realize it or not. Think of your inner voice as your instinct, or guardian. When you come to a fork in the road, a difficult decision, or a moral one, that inner voice can guide you.

Life is About Discovering Who You Are

Developing our inner voices, learning who we are on the inside, and who we want to be, is part of what it means to be alive.

During your self-discovery, it’s important to remember that not everything you do is reflective of who you are. In fact, sometimes our behavior tells the opposite story; we could be acting out a lie that results in behavior that is not our true selves. We could be acting in ways to get people to like us, to fit in with friends and society, or to get something that we want out of someone else.

It can be hard to break away from the kind of behavior you think you need to do in order to fit in or be successful; however, it is possible to make changes. It starts with listening to that inner voice and start living in a way that is in line with what makes sense to you, regardless of what people think.

As you make changes, be aware that you will alienate some people. People who are used to you being a certain way; yet, your true friends won’t care. In fact, those who really care about you will be happy to see you coming into your own.

In addition, don’t feel guilty about the changes you make. At the end of the day, you won’t make everyone happy, and it’s also not your responsibility to do so. When you think about it, if everyone loves you, you probably aren’t being honest enough. Ruffling some feathers is perhaps a good sign that we are doing something right in regards to being true to ourselves.

When Your Inner Voice is Your Biggest Critic

Being self-critical has benefits in pursuing growth. But it has a darker side in making us feel like we are not good enough. Our confidence gets drained and we look down on ourselves. There must be a balance that ensures it doesn’t take over our entire being.

But the biggest mistake is letting that hold us back and not put enough effort towards where we want to go and who we want to be.

Perhaps you are not the smartest person around, or maybe you have struggled with making money. No matter what issue you beat yourself up about, remember that you are not alone in your struggles. Sure, there are people out there who are doing much better, but why should that matter? It doesn’t. Your journey is different, your definition of success is different, your inner voice and the goals you have for yourself are different. And that’s ok.

There is more than one way to be successful. The only way other people can affect that is if we believe we are inferior based on their opinions.

It is amazing how one negative opinion about us, or thinking that we are lacking can ruin our psyche. These thoughts do not define us, others do not define us. Sure, people can point out mistakes you’ve made, and they might be right. But who you are on the inside can only be known by you. We should learn to filter criticism to figure out what is worth changing, and not let it define who we are.

Perfection is Impossible

No matter how hard we try, we will always make mistakes. The idea that we can reach a state of “perfection” is a fallacy.

For instance, with my blog, I’ve been writing a ton, and I’ve noticed that my writing is improving, and it is taking me less time to put down my thoughts. Often participation and effort allow us to make progress by just showing up.

It is less about having every move be perfect, and more about maximizing our energy in working towards our dreams.

My success is dependent on me not giving up, even when things get hard, and learning how to be myself through my words. In the same way, the more energy you put into developing your inner voice, and listening to it, the stronger it becomes, and the easier it is for you to stay true to what it’s telling you.

Who You Are is Not Static

Often it is assumed who we are is determined when we are born. What makes up our gene pool. But is this true?

There is scientific evidence showing that genes partially determine our predisposition to certain behaviors and thoughts. That article explains that genes do play a part, but the environment we are in can also have a significant effect on who we are. Tim Spector’s view, from the article above, is that our environment plays a stronger role. I’m a firm believer that we have free will to determine who we are and what we achieve through our choices. But we will have to work through our disadvantages, whether they are from our genes, biology, or environment.

Our behavior can give us insight into where we are. And other factors, such as genes and the environment we grew up in, partially determines how we think and our behavior. But often our actions are not a result of who we truly are. We could be living out the behavior of our parents, or the result of their behavior. Or we could be responding to traumatic events in our past.

I’m not saying we are not responsible for our actions, but our behavior can point to more significant issues. In other words, our behavior can be more of a response, than accurately reflecting who we are.

I struggle with being confident in myself, even after finding success. There is a lot I have accomplished. By realizing that this is something I struggle with, I can pinpoint when I’m working against myself.

I would argue who we are on the inside is continuously changing. It is based on our thoughts and can be a result of our behavior. Actual change is possible for all of us if we can learn how to work through our internal barriers and get to the core of who we want to be.

What Failure Looks Like

Many people have accomplished great things for one reason: effort. They took a risk, pushed their comfort zone, and put their energy into making it work.

I’ve already mentioned that our biggest mistake is not trying. But I want to drive this point home as I think it is vital to everything we do.

We can’t live our lives being afraid of failure. Failure is what helps us grow. In other words, effort + failure can equal success. You can’t fail what you don’t pursue, and success becomes impossible unless we try. No single failure makes our whole pursuit fail (for the most part). Realizing our failures is an opportunity to grow from them and push towards success.

We need to diversify our outlook and redefine failing into a positive occurrence. When we make a mistake, it might show us something we would not have noticed before — a key insight that opens up other opportunities. It might change what we decide to pursue, but who cares about how we reach our goals?

A significant mistake we can make is not reflecting on our failures. We might notice we messed up, but until we can see with a clear perspective on what that caused, we will most likely repeat the same mistakes.

Furthermore, we need to realize that change is not a bad thing. It represents a healthy response to what we are learning.

My Ultimate Goal

I want to be the best version of myself I can possibly be, no holds barred.

I want my writing to reflect who I am, which includes all the weird parts too. My goal is to be honest about my mistakes and what I’m doing, and I don’t want to write what I think people want to hear, just because I believe that is what they want to read.

I want to share my unique journey towards my dreams and that people can find hope in their own lives. I want to challenge traditional views on finances and money, and learn how to be the best version of myself. I want to empower women through my own stories and help them grow into their own best selves. I want all of this to encourage people to develop and nurture their inner voices so that we have a society of unique individuals each contributing from their unique point of view.

I’m not advocating that my way is the best way for you, or that there aren’t alternatives that are worth considering. I’m hoping that sharing what I’ve learned and am currently learning will not only help me pursue my own goals but also help others. I want my past bad decisions to propel me towards the future I want to see come true. And I want to see others pursuing what matters most to them.

I am learning to be comfortable with the idea that my writing style, and what I write about, will change over time, and that is okay. Just as it’s ok that who I am, and what I value also will change over time. It’s also ok that on my road to success, I lose people close to me as I change and grow. I’m not a robot producing content. I’m a person with dreams, aspirations, weaknesses, insecurities, strengths, and desires, all wrapped up in a person trying to be the best that I can be.

Summary

Self-reflection helps us look through our behavior to see who we truly are. Self-criticism, while helpful in small doses, can blindside our dreams, ruin our confidence, and cause us to believe we are not good enough.

Who you are can change over time. It is incredible how good choices can have a domino effect on our future. We need to fight against the voices in our heads and from others that tell us we can’t achieve our goals. We need to heed our inner voice when it’s telling us what is right for us or wrong.

Our behavior can point more towards internal issues, more than defining who we are. The goal needs to be to get rid of these negative behaviors and embrace our true selves.

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About the Blogger

Sanjana Vig is a physician anesthesiologist, avid traveler, and entrepreneur. She founded The Female Professional in order to give women a voice, a community, and provide resources to help them overcome hurdles and achieve success. With her experiences as a physician, as a CEO of a startup, and as a writer, she understands the struggles and frustrations that women face. She also understands what it takes to move past those things and come out on top. Through this platform, Sanjana aims to empower women to be their best, authentic, selves, achieve work/life balance, and live life to the fullest.

Thank you for sharing your post! Be sure to check out Sanjana’s blog and social media accounts here:

• Blog: The Female Professional
• Instagram: @the.femaleprofessional
• Twitter: @TFP_Platform
• Facebook: @TFPplatform
• Pinterest: @TFP_platform

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