Oprah and others have stated that “speaking your truth” can be a powerful tool. It can indeed. However, in order to wield this tool, like anything else, we must first understand the true spirit of a statement like “speak your truth”. Because if we don’t, we’ll end up misappropriating the phrase to such aspects that aren’t worthy of it, or worse - things that can be harmful. In today’s lesson, I (Phil Svitek) talk about the notion of speaking your truth. I first started thinking about what speak your truth really means when I, Tonya came out last year. It’s a biographical film, which depicts the story of talented figure skater Tonya Harding as she becomes the first American woman to complete a triple axel during a competition. In 1994, her world comes crashing down when her ex-husband conspires to injure Nancy Kerrigan, a fellow Olympic hopeful, in a poorly conceived attack that forces the young woman to withdraw from the national championship. Harding’s life and legacy instantly become tarnished as she’s forever associated with one of the most infamous scandals in sports history. Based on the title alone, you can probably tell this film is from the perspective of Tonya Harding. This film went on to create a lot of Oscar buzz and it brought back Tonya Harding into the spotlight in what I would call revisionist history. Meaning suddenly she was a brave woman for speaking her truth. All the while I thought what the hell does Nancy Kerrigan think about all this. I’m sure it can’t be anything pleasant. See, therein lies the danger of a phrase like speak your truth for me. Because it’s not the objective truth. It’s a perspective. More specifically, your perspective. Speaking your truth is a very noble sentiment. However it gets tricky since we also value tolerance and wide ranging thoughts and opinions. And at no point do you want to assign someone else’s truth better or worse than yours. Inherently that is what happens with a phrase like speak your truth. It implies a concrete statement, often times with blind certainty, that negates the other person’s perspective. I’ll unpack how to apply “speak your truth” in the correct way using many examples including The Devil Wears Prada starring Anne Hathaway. Comment below with thoughts, opinions, personal experiences, questions, etc.
Full Transcript: https://philsvitek.com/what-speak-your-truth-really-means/
Stick with the Problem Lesson: https://philsvitek.com/stick-with-the-problem-longer/
Devil Wears Prada Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6sQ70RGUF0
Devil Wears Prada DVD: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009EEKPWQ/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=philsvitek-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B009EEKPWQ&linkId=f3e6701d97f1b1495be1a3f4e7a13e90
I, Tonya Anatomy of a Movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfLkw9uIKfE
