Voice Notes From the Path (2)

Last month, I shared something new. An off-the-cuff voice note recorded while walking through the park. Something I had started to do for myself, a way to hear my own voice, to take up space out-loud, to work things out in a different way to when I write them down. There’s something about speaking - especially out loud, in motion - that brings a different kind of truth to the surface. One I don’t always find on the page.

I felt a little cringe pressing ‘publish’ on it. Afraid it was silly. That I was over-exposing myself. That no one would care. But as is almost always the case - whenever we share something real, someone sees themselves in it. As I’ve been reminded of many times over the years, that’s the consistent magic of telling the truth. That it always reaches someone. That there’s no real utility in ‘cringe’. That it’s just another thing designed to keep us small and separate.

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This second voice note picks up where the last left off. In it, I speak about the strange, emotional in-between of having finished something meaningful - the waves of doubt and waiting that have followed, and what it’s brought up in me.

I also reflect on how becoming more yourself can shift the dynamics around you. Who cheers you on. Who quietly pulls away. The grief of growing out of old roles. The cost of being seen. In some ways this voice note gives language to what I started exploring in this recent post on the untruths I have been learning to let go of.

There’s a line in this voice note that surprised me when I said it, but I think it’s true:
sometimes, in order to be the main character in your own life, you have to be the villain in someone else’s.

It reminded me of something Mia Khalifa said to me when I interviewed her for Huck a couple of years ago:

“There’s an inherent expectation to be motherly and nurturing as a woman, in any way and any time, all the time,” she told me. “That’s why putting our foot down translates to, ‘I’m in my villain era’... You’re not! This is the first time in your life you’re actually healing, baby girl. You’re in your self-love era, actually.”

I think about that often. How quick the world is to label women as difficult, cold, or selfish the moment we stop abandoning ourselves. How easily boundaries are framed as betrayal. And how radical it still feels to choose yourself - especially when it means not everyone claps for it.

This voice note is only available for paid subscribers - a more private space where the deeper, messier parts of the process will live.

Each month, paid subscribers receive two additional posts:
→ Voice Notes from the Path - reflective audio diaries from my walks, paired with a journaling prompt
→ Something slower, more spacious - essays, letters, or creative fragments that offer a different kind of insight

This month, that third post will be the first in a new rotating series called Mood Board - a kind of postcard from my artist dates. What I’ve been seeing, what’s been moving me, what I’ve been gathering lately for inspiration. And some thoughts on why re-filling the creative well matters.

This month’s free post was a reflection on unlearning - the stories we’ve inherited and the truths we’ve avoided and the work of shedding those unhelpful beliefs:

If this space speaks to you - and you’d like to listen to the voice note, or keep reading - you can upgrade your subscription below. These are the more intimate, less polished things I don’t share anywhere else.

This post - including the voice note, extended reflections, and journaling prompt - continues below for paid subscribers.