December 6th marks the 1 year anniversary of “The Illuminated Voice.”  For those of you who have subscribed, read weekly or are reading for the first time, thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  This blog was created for one goal, to write weekly.  I felt I lost my creativity somewhere in college and in 2013 I set the goal to nurture my creativity.  That year, I also focused on balancing my life and began studying improv, which ultimately led me to find my voice.

This past fall, my voice coach challenged me to write a solo show.  I took on his challenge with excitement.  I loved to write as a girl and wrote often.  As I got older, but I stopped because of the demands of life.  I wanted to get back into the writing habit for years, but I had an eight years writers block, which broke open after I found my voice.  The more I thought about my solo show the more the reality set in on the level of vulnerability that would have to happen in the writing and the performance, fear came over me and then an idea was born.  As a result of my desire to write and the fear of being extremely vulnerable in front of an audience, I decided to write vulnerably first to get used to the experience.  I started this blog, so I could write vulnerably, each week.  To hold myself accountable to my goal, I decided to make the blog public and share it with my friends.  I have never been as vulnerable as I have been this year in both life and in my writing.  I never imagined I would have subscribers or viewers.

My life has changed as a result of this blog.  Growing up I was silenced by my experiences and struggles and only wanted to be truly seen and heard.  I thank you as the readers for listening to my strengthening voice.  Though we may never meet in person, thank you for meeting me here.  If you ever feel like you have never made a difference in someone’s life, you have made a difference in mine and for that I am grateful.  The combination of finding my voice, writing the solo show and this blog led to my leap of faith and to realize that I want to be a motivational speaker and storyteller in the future.  I don’t know where this blog will lead me next year, but I am excited for what will unfold.  Thank you.

Sincerely with Love,

Stephanie

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