Are you listening to your inner voice? Are you listening to it like it is a Siren’s call? Or are you ignoring it; hoping that it will be quiet and leave you be? We all have that inner voice. We have heard it since about the age of 5. Remember when you wanted to be a policeman, ballerina, princess or astronaut?

That young voice made us fearless – we believed we could conquer the world or the tall slide at the park. As we aged, that voice changed goals – we realized we would need to have a job to buy things so our dream changed. We now wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, boss, secretary or teacher. We saw these people and they had an impact on our lives – our mothers or fathers may have had these jobs and we wanted to emulate our parents.

In our adolescence this inner voice became our moral compass. It told us when to help a stranger cross the street and not to hurt animals. It also helped us stand up for others when we saw injustice. That voice may have gotten muffled in our teens when peer pressure became louder. It would still roar at times when we saw an injustice that shook us to the core. It was still there, it was just not as loud as the noise around us.

In our twenties that voice screams at us to do what is right but we are so used to ignoring it, that we tune it out to have fun. How many chose a major suggested by parents or guidance counselors because it offered a good career track rather than following our passions. We got our degree, found a job and started a career. Life was flowing as it “should” and we were satisfied being normal.

As we get older and start taking stock of our lives, that inner voice starts grumbling, it is not happy, wants to be heard. Something is lacking. We feel unfulfilled and notice that something is missing in our lives. Have we missed our calling? Are we just getting by? Living by someone else’s rules?

What is your inner voice trying to tell you? Can you hear it? What needs to change so that you can feel fulfilled?