voice.

I have been completely stripped of my voice. I am in a place that doesn’t speak my language, obviously. I can’t tell jokes, be sarcastic or clever. I didn’t realize how much I depend on my words. I use them as currency to make friends, to make excuses, to build facades, to get what I want. Not always but sometimes. This new silence is a good thing. No more verbal tap-dancing for pennies of affirmation.This environment is preventing all my energies from being spilled out through the rupture of my mouth, exhausting me and filling the world with words, words, words.
Some days I hear over hear English on the metro or in the streets and catch what the conversation is about and the subject is typically (in my opinion) trite or silly. I think we use what we say as filler to awkward moments, to build ourselves up, or to make someone feel comfortable. Maybe these things are fine but I wonder is we can use our words for more. To encourage, rebuke, sharpen, build one another up and glorify the things that should be glorified. So what then should be on our lips? I’m not sure but I am definitely learning to listen and people want to tell their stories…