New to Audio Journaling? Here's How to Stop Yourself From Freaking out When Hitting Record
If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that no-one likes hearing their own voice. If you’ve ever had your voicemail played back to you, or had to re-watch a presentation you’ve given, you’ll know the feeling. This sense of unease at hearing our own voice can often extend to the way we phrase our ideas, and a fear of being inarticulate can stop us from ever hitting record.
There’s good news though - audio journaling isn’t just for the eloquent, and there’s no reason you should freak out simply because you aren’t the most loquacious. Or perhaps you are, but you find yourself struggling with coherency or feel like you’re waffling on. Just because some uses highfalutin language doesn’t always mean they’re interesting to listen to or have something interesting to say.
Every dialect is a way of thinking:
As a writer, as someone who has poor attention, yet, who puts a lot of pressure on themselves to juggle and complete numerous tasks at one time, I’m well aware that ideas and ideation don’t reflect eloquence. They also don’t respect ‘working hours’ – how many of us form that perfect concept, or have a moment of sober self-reflection in an inopportune setting to be able to properly document it?
Compounded with this, I have always disliked my voice, and have often been subject to people commenting on it as strange, or strangely accented which leads to further self-consciousness and isolates you deeper inside your head.
So how do we stop ourselves from freaking out when trying to do something spontaneous?
1. Try a regimen: Although you might want to leave your journaling up to your day-by-day mood, setting aside a time to speak is like a mental workout – after a while, it will become muscle memory. Good times might be either: first thing in the morning, or not long before bed as times to either reflect on your day or the previous one.
2. Think about what to say: This, again, may sound counter-intuitive considering we often want to be spontaneous, but pausing for a moment to take a deep breath and focus on what it is you want to express can help – try settling on just an image, or the idea itself rather than trying to describe it just yet.
3. Just do it: Make sure if you make the decision to hit record you say something. It doesn’t have to be straight away, nor does it have to be about anything or last particularly long. You may surprise yourself though – often we find clarity when we free ourselves from pressure.
4. Track your output against your burnout scores: Something interesting I have been doing recently is using the burnout tests either daily or weekly to track against the length and content of my audio journals. Try it for yourself, you may find some interesting correlation!
About the author:
Harry Patté-Dobbs is an English (BA) graduate and writer who has created content for community news and student theatre, NFPs, and magazines. In his spare time, he writes and performs poetry under the name @speak_easy_music.