Credit for this one goes out to Shonda Rhimes and the mid-season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy (I am addicted and I am okay with that). Last week’s episode began with a voice over regarding the likelihood of women speaking up when there are men in the room and throughout the episode showed challenges, particularly from women, in speaking up for what they wanted. Restraint was both mandatory and by choice.
It is a very solid point and a lesson learned for me. I do not speak up in pretty much any situation where I know someone else there can. However, I do make sure my voice is heard when I feel there’s a point being missed. I am a big fan of follow-up emails to ask the questions I was too shy to ask, and sometimes, hopefully, leave more a lasting impression.
Female or male, there are a lot of people who do not speak up when they should. There are so many people, myself included, that do not speak up thinking and hoping somebody else with more confidence will do it for them. The problem is, sometimes these people (myself included) have really loud voices that should be exercised more often.
What- or who- ever you care about, you should be able to speak up for it/them. There should not be this fear that keeps thoughts and feelings bottled in. We should also speak up until we are heard. Not just stop when we say something because we feel better about ourselves or whatever. A lot of people have a voice but are never heard. Even more people don’t even bother to try. It’s time for a change.
She’s Got a Whole PhD 
This episode stuck with me as well for some of the same reasons. I realized that I don’t actually speak up as much as I think I should. I don’t know why I always feel nervous before speaking to a group, but the line “do whatever it takes” in the middle of her monologue really spoke to me.
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