I am afraid of singing in public. Like, really scared. The frustrating thing is that I’m an OK singer but the experience of trying to sing in public freaks me out so much that my throat closes up with nerves and I end up sounding terrible which just reinforces my fear.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about voices; people’s unique voice in speech, song and writing, and I have come to the conclusion that even if you have an ‘imperfect’ voice, it’s still valuable and precious and worthwhile.

Apparently in Iceland, everyone is encouraged to be creative but not necessarily to create things that succeed or are in any way good. Because it’s so freaking cold and dark for half of the year, Icelanders just need stuff to do and this has evolved into a supportive community where creativity is celebrated.

I love this idea. What if we just sang for the sheer joy of it, regardless of how we sounded? Or if all of the writers out there just started writing about something. Anything. Who cares whether it works?

How often do we avoid doing things because we think we’re crap at them? And how on earth will we ever get better if we don’t try?

We need to be brave enough to do things that we want to do, even if we absolutely suck at them. Get out there – suck hard, friends!