It's time to speak up!

As we all go through this journey called life there is one thing we all should know and that is speaking up. Speaking up for yourself is not tantamount to being rude, everyone deserves to be heard regardless of their opinions or beliefs.

A lot of people would rather suffer in silence than speak up. Do you know what happens when you don’t speak up for yourself? Like when you have so much to say but can’t say a word because you are scared of stepping on people’s toes or making enemies? People will walk over you, they’ll take advantage of your silence and you on the other hand will still be affected emotionally.

In a bid to avoid "trouble" most people are living with so many burdens, a lot of people are pained, some frustrated and these could have been avoided if they had just said what they had to say but instead they chose to suck it all in for “peace to reign” while they end up suffering greatly afterward.

There’s no harm in allowing “peace to reign” but when it costs me my comfort or peace of mind I don’t allow that “peace to reign”, apologizes to people who think otherwise.

I have so many favorite songs and Brave by Sara Bareilles is one of them. If you haven’t listened to the song, I urge you to do so.

Brave was released in 2013 by American singer Sara Bareilles and it is called a “transformative” song by a lot of people as you don’t listen to the lyrics of the song without something stirring inside of you.

It’s a song of encouragement, the artist Sara Bareilles started by admitting that a lot of bad things could happen to people but there’s no harm in speaking up, no harm in being Brave.

Speaking up is one thing people shy away from but the sooner people begin to speak up for themselves the happier they will become.

I used to be extremely soft before this time, I would let things slide because I was so scared of getting into people’s bad books, I was so scared of the news of my altercations with people flying around and I was also scared of confrontations and being disliked by people.

I had the words to say, bro, I had more to say in the face of an argument but I would always hold back, even when it was crystal clear that the other party was wrong, I would suck it all in, accept my faith and continue with my life. Was this healthy? No! it wasn’t healthy because I’d keep playing the event over and over again, tossing and turning in my bed as the whole event played again and again in my head, and with each round I would hiss countless times and my heart would be filled with bitterness and regret.
In the process of all of these, I would continue to scold myself, “I should have spoken up”, “I should have made her see reasons”, “I should have said my side of the story” etcetera, etcetera, and with all the frustrations I would finally sleep.

As time went on, I knew I was suffering emotionally, I knew I was letting things slide easily, and I knew I was playing safe too much and people were taking advantage of me and that got to me big time.

I decided to start speaking up, even when the other party was screaming at the top of their voice I must say everything in my heart, walking away and sulking wasn’t an option anymore.

With time I started gaining my respect and my voice was heard.

You know that moment when you listen to a song and you just want to listen to it over and again and every single time it hits you, you get a deeper meaning from the lyrics, this is what happens to me whenever I listen to Brave by Sara Bareilles.

Brave gives you so many reasons why you need to speak up.

Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out

This song inspires me a lot as it made speaking up look very easy and that we are not alone in the struggles of life, whatever you are experiencing now a lot of people have experienced it.

The lyrics of the song are so real and relatable as you can find yourself in one of the categories of people Sara spoke about in the song and to me nothing can be more real than that.

Nobody is going to kill you if you speak up, in the long run, speaking up for yourself makes you stronger.