#BlackButterflies Part 3 of 4

​Today we honor Dr. Maya Angelou as a #BlackButterfly.
Suffering sexual assault as a child, Maya Angelou went years without speaking. In time she found her voice and the world would be blessed with her words
 
Have you felt silenced, or reverted into a state of hopelessness? You too can speak and live again.
 
Writing can be your voice, as it was for Dr. Maya Angelou. Writing allows you to put down things that have been trapped inside with no way out. For me, writing was that voice. It gave me a sense of freedom to express how I felt, and it allowed me to reflect on the things that were going on internally. As I got older, I realized I had been harboring trauma from my past that had never got addressed or dealt with. Somehow I was able to suppress them for some time, not realizing they were growing with me. Eventually, those things came to surface and affected me in different ways.
 
Writing became a form of help or therapy in that it was a light in dark places. With writing, I’m able to see things I hadn’t been able to discern before. It has become my saving grace and I can only imagine this is the case for so many others.
 
Your story, your voice may be the help that you or your loved ones need. It can also be a voice of reason for others facing similar circumstances. #MayaAngelou paved the way for all of us to feel inspired to use our voice. This can be done in many forms. For me, it was writing. I was able to capture my full story in my book Life in its Rawest Form.
What will be your story? How will you use your voice?