Use Your Difference to Make a Difference

16Actually, Communicate

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

—George Bernard Shaw

After you educate yourself on who you are and on your environment, and make a commitment to refuse to contribute to the negative perpetuations that exist around us, it's time to communicate. Communicating involves elements of both educating and not perpetuating. As you are committing to communicate, you will find yourself at an interesting junction. You'll find yourself seeing things from a more nuanced point of view as opposed to in a binary way. One of our greatest paradoxes is living in a world of nuance governed by binary systems. This leads to needing to deal with several predicaments internally. You might find yourself wrestling with whether you should speak up or not. You might find yourself dealing with fear of criticism because showing up as you are may be such a shock to the norm that it makes people feel uncomfortable. And then you might find yourself not knowing where the line is between freedom of expression and being “politically correct.”

Here's the thing, though. As much as you might feel like you're the only one with these thoughts, you're not as alone as you think. Think about how the #MeToo movement started. In 2006, Tarana Burke coined the phrase “Me Too” as a way to raise awareness and create a safe haven for survivors of sexual assault; then in 2017, actress Alyssa Milano, following the heinous revelations that had come out ...