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I don’t know about you, dear friends and fellow writers, but 2025 has left me reeling.

Drained. Anxious. Exhausted.

As a human being, as a woman, as a citizen, as a writer…as just about everything I identify with.

Last week, I wrote about nothing feeling solid.

I said, “It feels like we’re sinking. Slowly, as our cries for help are ignored by those in power—we’re slowly sinking.”

I’m feeling the horrible juxtaposition to scream from the rooftops, using my voice and hoping it lands on ears that are not too deaf to hear me, and choking on the very words I most want to say. Words that need to be said.

I’ve found myself writing into what feels like a void, thinking that my thoughts can’t possibly make a difference while simultaneously telling myself that they are crucial and that they are as deserving to be heard as any.

I question nearly everything. I ask:

Is my story “worthy” of telling? Do I have my sources straight? What will someone say when they read this?

Last week someone called my writing a Mean Girls moment and it made me feel small, and insignificant, until I pulled back and decided not to let an Internet Stranger ruin my day, or my message.

Perhaps you’ve felt this way too, recently?

I was struck by this quote today, and I am taking it to heart:

“I am not anxious to be the loudest voice or the most popular. But I would like to think that at a crucial moment, I was an effective voice of the voiceless, an effective hope of the hopeless.” ~ Whitney M. Young Jr.

And so, as I write into that void that may not be a void, I will remember this…I don’t need or want to be the loudest voice or the voice that goes viral for a pithy comment. But I do hope that I am a voice in these dark, dark and critical times that will shed a little light where it’s needed.

I will keep going, keep writing, keep sharing, and keep my voice exercised, like the muscle it is.

If you’re feeling your words get stuck in your throat, and your chest tighten when you think about writing these days…remember that you, too, don’t have to be loud, or popular, or tomorrow’s viral sensation. You simply have to show up and you’ll have done the hardest part.

~

{*Note from Elephant’s Editor-in-Chief: What matters is that each of us speaks up right now—the collective energy of our community is what matters—not individuals, or ego, or clout. The simple bravery it takes to speak up—no matter how loud or quiet we are, or how large or small our platform might be. ~ Waylon, ed.}