Your Voice Matters

Posted on October 8, 2020October 8, 2020 by tinaoverbury

Nails

Listen to TinaO read the poem here.

Being literal is not my jam
as I stuff crayons into a rock faces
and wait for the wax to melt
so I can read

and typing isn’t logical

either

still once upon a teacher with cigarette long pink nails

taught me how to use the home row

fake I’m sure

the nails that is

but she could do it without click clacking at all

how real is that?

How to unwind mistakes from the roller of the

type

writer

so quietly

folded silently

with painless, spotlight-less

voice-less error

and drop it

drama free into the waste basket by your calves

from your skirt

because secretaries are discreet

her nails

had a voice

but she did not

Mrs. Hinton

taught me to type endless amounts of words

without

making a sound

Listen to TinaO Read the Poem here.

My VERY FIRST video ever recorded – 2014

Oh my… It’s interesting to me that I find this video cringe worthy. I realize that says more about my ego than it does about the video doesn’t it?

I think I sound preachy.

I think I risk being ‘divisive’.

I think I sound green and innocent and immature – and feisty.

Isn’t it interesting how much effort it takes to say something publicly?

That is my lesson in this video. I cared a lot about the stand the teachers were taking back then in 2014. The kids were out for five months. Nuts right? But I was firey about supporting the teachers so much so that I decided to share my world view in my first video ever.

This is the video that launched a thousand vlogs.

There are things in this video I want to take back, like the poem I’m reading above. I want to silently remove it from the roller, fold it up and painlessly drop it into the waste basket. And isn’t that interesting too?

The truth is, my position hasn’t changed at all, I just wish I could present it better. Again… totally, my ego talking. This was almost seven years ago. Wild.

You know, I wonder how much more willing we would be to truly say what we think and feel, if we acknowledged the courage it takes to be seen doing and saying anything at all.

I wonder.

This year on December 25th, which is both Christmas Day and my 50th Birthday, I am stepping into a new story…

and I know what I know what I know about how stories work:

Stories won’t let go of you until they’ve been fully heard.

This is release #4 of sixteen weeks of Story Hits (vlog) from as far back as 2013. Some are my favourites, some are yours. If you missed week #1, you can start at the beginning with: Out of the Water here.

I will be writing more about these moments in both my upcoming book: STORY STONES (coming fall 2021, and in my one woman show: O MY GOD (touring spring 2021).On my 50th Birthday, if you’re on my VIP list, I’ll be sending you 50 Days of Christmas Story Gifts from Dec. 25th to February 12th. If you want some story goodness filled with sneak peeks into the creation and rehearsal process, plus be able to pre-order the book, and order tickets to the show, click here and the let the gifting begin! (You’ll get a bunch of cool story right away)

I have to close one story to open another.

Thank you for listening.

Tina Overbury is a core-communications specialist who works with individuals and organizations who feel called. She is a storyteller, performer, and a professional listener who works with narrative and story structure as a vehicle for human connection. Her work is rooted in Myth, Mysticism, and the practice of personal faith. She brings thirty years of collaborative storytelling in theatre, film, marketing, team based selling, and workshop facilitation. She is the founder of Live Your Best Story, a weekend retreat of deep listening held on Bowen Island, BC, Canada and is the voice and story behind TinaOLife, home to Story Stones, TinaO’s online gathering of listening in to sacred stories. Tina is a proud associate of PowHERhouse media where she listens and supports the ‘stories’ of whole and integrated leaders of tomorrow.If you’d like to know more about TinaO’s approach to STORY and receive updates about STORY STONES the book, and O MY GOD, her one woman show, click here and you’ll be added to her ‘stay in touch’ list plus she’ll send you a few short intro videos about what story means to her. CLICK HERE for TinaO Story stuff.