Steps to unlearning self consciousness about your voice
1. Hum along to your favorite songs.
2. Stop covering your mouth when you laugh.
3. Raise your hand in class. Speak up, even if you feel a bit shaky.
4. Talk to yourself. Not sure what to say? Talk through problems, talk about your feelings, talk about your grocery list or what you’re planning on doing today. If you don’t think you can be nice while talking to yourself, talk to your cat or your plant or your stuffed animal. (Stuffed animals will never judge you.)
5. Sing in the shower. Sing when there’s nobody home. Sing songs you love; songs that make you feel things. Your voice will crack. You won’t hit the notes. Sing anyway.
6. Read out loud. Read passages of your book, read poetry, hell, read your homework out loud. Notice how long you can speak without taking a breath, notice how the inflections sound in your voice, notice how some words drag into each other, while others are crisp and sharp. You don’t have to like the way you read, or dislike it. Just notice.
7. Call out to people. Call out to your friend across the hall, or your neighbor across the street. Yes, people might notice you. It’s okay. Let your voice reach farther than you think it can.
8. Don’t let people interrupt you! (This is a tricky one.) If someone tries, tell them that you were still speaking, and finish your sentence. Don’t acknowledge what they’ve said until you finish your thought. (Note that all interruptions are not meant badly—people get excited to share their thoughts, and forget to wait their turn. Just because an interruption was well-intentioned does not mean that you need to hold your tongue.)
9. Start conversations. You don’t have to wait to be spoken to.
10. Sing along at concerts, scream yourself hoarse with the rest of the crowd. Sing along with your friends as they all chime in to that song you guys all know. Sing along when your dad plays that one album you know by heart.
11. Listen to recordings of your own voice. It only sounds like that the first dozen times you hear it, and then it might not be the most pleasant thing, but it won’t be so utterly abhorrent, either.
12. Practice presentations and speeches and monologues in front of an audience. Read for your family, read for your friends, and when the time comes, get on stage and speak.
13. Laugh loudly. Sing at the top of your lungs. Speak up. Shout! And when that voice in your head(maybe it’s your own, and maybe it’s not) tells you to quiet down? Ignore it. You don’t have to listen.
It will take some time. It won’t be easy. But your voice? It’s worth it. No matter what it sounds like, your voice is beautiful, and important, and the world needs to hear it.