ADubhlaoich

I'm tired of hearing about other people's opinions. Read that carefully.

If I go to your talk or class or ask for your perspective, I want to hear your opinion. I don't care about anyone elses'. I have or are forming a relationship with you.

This is a simple request, but I have had to state it repeatedly.

Writing is the sole activity I have maintained my entire life. When I was younger and shy, writing evolved from a way of organising my thoughts and feelings into a way to practice expressing them.

How you use language can both reveal and define how you think. Your words can reveal your biases. Your experiences. Whether you're an optimistic or a pessimist. Some people are better at expressing themselves than others, but the pursuit of correctness can sterilise the voice delivering a message.

Sometimes we use special words to try convey lots of information quickly because we assume other people know the special words for a topic. This is the curse of knowledge: I assume you have the best intentions in trusting the other person is a peer with similar knowledge.

As long as you choose to use your own voice, I will choose to care.

The moment you try to use someone elses' voice, I choose not to give a fuck.

This is one of many reasons I dislike LLMs: if you don't take the time to write something yourself, or feel that improving your writing isn't worth your time, why would you be entitled to any attention?

The act of writing is the act of understanding. I assert this because I believe it. I do not need someone else to give me permission to state something. The only person who gives you permission to create anything is you.

The moment you decide it is other people who give you permission - by copying what they say, and how they say it, and explaining why they say it - you have no reason to be part of the conversation.

Your voice is a tool for sharing who you are and what you have done. It should not be a tool for restating the experience of another person. If they are a teacher, you have failed them as a student by refusing to explore the topic in your own time.

It is deeply sad to be unfamiliar with your own voice. It often means you have not been invited to share it, or that others have worked to quieten you. Carve your own opportunities into time.

Research is important. To ignore what another person has learned is to disrespect the care they took to share it in the hopes that someone else can follow a path longer than they did. But careless calls to authority can reduce your voice.

You are the expert of your own lived experience. You know what you have thought, and you know what you have felt. Tell your story in your own voice.