My voice is my favorite thing about me. I used to say it was the best thing about me, but got shouted down by people talking about compassion, generosity, and some other stuff I wasn’t paying attention to.
For a while, I lost my voice. It was truly devastating. I practiced and trained, but a fundamental quality of flow and ease seemed to be gone forever. A core and critical part of my identity felt lost to me and I was in great despair.
Then, I started taking HRT. Apparently, estrogen plays an essential role in keeping connective tissue pliant. Once I was back to a more typical estrogen level, my voice returned to its old self. It has been such a joy to reclaim it, and to sing with gratitude and awareness I should never take for granted again.
I have also been making a concerted effort to play the guitar more regularly. I will never match my voice in terms of ease and skill, but I only learned to facilitate songwriting and campfire playing at any rate.
Though I have written an album’s worth of original music, the first cover song I ever learned is still the easiest for me to play. And so…
Still a bit rusty, but as with a lot of things I am reclaiming, it is coming along and I am delighted to be back to the things that make me most happy.
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