Today, I didn’t wear a mask.
I dusted off my lipstick, neatly packed away my unused masks after our Minister of Health’s announcement that masks are now optional.
As a softspoken woman, this has been a very limiting time for me.
As a softspoken woman, I have lost a part of my voice since 2020. By wearing a mask, I, like many others, had less control over what you hear, and didn’t hear.
For my conversation to be heard in a meeting room, theater, or busy ward I had to purposefully overdramatize my non-verbal communication for you to (hopefully) listen.
I don’t have the power of a strong voice, that resonated across and overpowers conversations. I only know the voice I’ve been given.
Without a mask, I can once again learn to make someone aware, using soft non-verbal cues, that I’m about to initiate a conversation.
As a woman in the healthcare sector, I felt limited. I felt forever limited in busy clinics and noisy resussitations. Forever straining a voice to come across assertively.
I didn’t wear my mask today.
This is not the space to speak about all the pros and cons of mask-wearing. This is my honest opinion about a part of my identity.
I am thrilled to be able to reinstitute my subtle ways of non-verbal communication. Subtle ways of speaking my truth. A voice where I no longer have to spend energy around the propaganda of learnt non-verbal cues for you to listen. The voice I’ve cultivated for the last 3 decades, I get to re-initiate today.
This is not a decision I have taken likely, and I’m fully respectful of others choices.
Kind regards
Surgeon Mommy
All opinions are my own, I am in no way sponsored or affiliated. This article is not intended to replace the medical advice you have been given. Contact precautions and safe practices are as always, lifesaving.
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