I found my voice today!

I didn't realize it until I got into my car and headed to town this morning that it's been over a week since I've been able to sing. I just started singing along to the radio, as I almost always do, and realized that it felt REALLY good. Then, I realized that I hadn't been able to sing or even hum at all for the past nine days due to a cold that had infected my upper respiratory system, causing fits of dry, croupy coughs with seemingly no instigation. I couldn't even clear my throat, let alone put a lilt in my speaking voice without setting off a coughing fit. Singing had been out of the question.

Now, the interesting thing here is that I had been given the opportunity to see just how profoundly I had missed being able to sing! It was that REALLY good feeling evoked from singing along to the radio this morning that reminded me just how important this is as a creative outlet for me. I'm by no means an exceptional singer, and I rarely, if ever, sing for anyone but myself. In fact, I don't see myself as one who is particularly creative on purpose, as in an artist or a musician or a writer. This experience has helped me to see that I actually do use my creativity purposefully, even though the end product of my creativity isn't something tangible that another could hold, hear or read. The movement of my breath and voice, my face and mouth, my body's dance (as much as is possible while safely driving, that is!) and my hands' drumming of the steering wheel shifts and churns my emotions in such a way that I feel increasingly freed as I move along toward my destination. A sort of eyes-wide-open moving meditation, if you will. The further I go down the road, the better I'm able to let go of the doubt, the anger, the sadness, the judgment, the self-deprication... I'm brought toward a centeredness that enables me to walk tall, almost floating through each step.

I'm grateful for this unplanned fast from singing for the new appreciation it's brought me. I wonder what else I do that's a creative expression of sorts. I'm excited to use this new awareness to stretch my creativity and honor its natural place within me. I wonder what creative expressions others have that are missed when time or ills won't allow for them to be voiced. What about you?