Intelligent, No Approval Needed

You ever catch someone staring at you funny when you answer a hard question? You know the look I am talking about. That “dang you really think you all that just because you answered that question” look. Exactly. As a young, glasses having, braces wearing teen, I remember raising my hand to a question that my teacher asked and seeing her smile and state to the other puberty stricken teenagers “See class, this is what I am looking for!!” My smile lasted only a few mere miliseconds before the “popular” girls turned around and began to send me darts with their eyes. I shake my head at the recollection. Even though this is a silly story about the joys *insert eye roll* of middle school, it effected me for years to come. I became more silent not just in class, but on dates, in community discussions, friend dialogues and debates you name it… all because of a fear of looking like a smart alec/nerd/annoying twerp (is that even a word used nowadays? shoot I’m going to use it anyway).Then I went to college and began to discover the power of my voice. The power of my intelligence. The power that my MIND had and more importantly, the power my voice had. So I began to speak up. I stated my opinion apologetically, I began to voice the answers to the problems at hand. I learned that my voice matters because it is my voice. I will use my voice to share truth and to help others discover theirs. And yes if I know the answer to the question, I will politely raise my hand and asnwer to my best ability. Now will I always be right? I’d like to say yes but I’ll be transparent and say no. So you see, I decided to be who I was, intelligent, with or without someone’s permission. Because as I look back, silence was never my thing anyway.

So may 2016 be the year of unapologetic brilliance and pride in who I have become. I’ll raise my hand in celebration to that.