Using My Outside Voice Inside The Building

Once upon a time, I was shy. I was reserved. I was a wall flower.
In the light of being ME, I realized that at the age of 49, I own a voice.
In reality, I sound like a 14 year old girl.
Who giggles a lot.

I had the great fortune to work with 200 plus senior citizens this past week. Two of them asked me out for drinks afterwards. One threatened to spank me with his cane.  It was fun joking with them but when it came time to do my job, I had to be stern.

You can be nice to a point but with my timid voice, I can only herd so many willing cats & people.  So I had to use my "outside voice" and it quickly got their attention.
It is the equivalent to calling a child by their full legal name.
It is a tone that is reserved for only a few occasions.  This prompted me to get 2 text messages from people within the group that know me on a personal basis. The first one said "I didn't know you had it in you." The second text message was "Why have you not done that before?".
Really?
There is no need to use The Voice on a daily basis but I am glad to know it exists. And it does so without getting hysterical or shaky. It is not a voice of ego or boastfulness. I never had to use it much when raising my children. I suppose that is why it laid dormant for so long.

As a child, I was a bit of a boy.  I fought like one. I played sports like one. I worked like one.  I did manual labor. I was not a glamor girl. Very far from it.  My Dad told me that he raised Daddy's Boys. That when it came to getting ahead in this world, he did not want us to take any crap off of anyone.  Sadly, we also became very rebellious.  And devious. And I have never backed down from a fight.....mentally or physically.  Adulthood takes the shape of so many things but you never forget who you grew up with and the stings from the past.

Recently a "friend" took to cyber bullying a co-worker.  I knew that eventually someone would call her out on it. It was not going to be my crusade to go toe-to-toe with her.  I realized I could not become the very thing she was.  Some people are never going to change. Even the ones who are victims themselves. They have to live their life. I cannot live it for them. I cannot be their moral compass. I have to change the things I can and live this life that has been laid out for me.

With that being said, I would still punch her in the mouth if she said anything about me.

Old habits die hard.