The Lion Memory: On Voice, Presence, and Truth

Echoes from the Lion House

Lions roar-deep and powerful

As a child, I loved visiting the zoo. One of my favorite places was the lion house, an indoor enclosure where feeding time echoed across the park. Even from a distance, you could hear them roar, raw, deep, unmistakable. No one tried to quiet them. No one asked them to make themselves smaller. They were admired for being fully what they were.

I’ve been thinking a lot about those lions lately. Not literally, but symbolically, about voice, presence, and the freedom to be fully heard. I don’t want to roar loudly. I want to find words so honest, real, and grounded that even when spoken quietly, they resonate like a roar — deep, undeniable, impossible to ignore. Not diluted to fit someone else’s expectation.

When the World Expects You to Stay Small

Growing up, I learned that people often expected me to stay small, in presence, in thought, in feeling, regardless of the depth I carried inside. I was often described as “cute,” a word that never quite matched the internal landscape I was navigating. Survival had already demanded perceptiveness, adaptability, and resilience. There was far more complexity beneath the surface than most people saw.

I’ve come to realize that some of the discomfort others have felt around me is a kind of dissonance. They expect me to fit into a neat box -quiet, easily understood, and easy to categorize. But who I am and what I see doesn’t fit those categories. That gap between expectation and reality can create dissonance, not because something is wrong, but because something deeper refuses to stay hidden. Dissonance isn’t a flaw; it’s evidence of something that doesn’t fit.

Inside were thoughts, insights, and feelings that didn’t always fit what made others comfortable. I wasn’t rude. If anything, I held back, softened my words, and watered them down to avoid shock. This restraint often came at the cost of my own needs, a quiet form of self-sacrifice, leaving me feeling invisible or misunderstood.

Being small in a world that expects you to be small taught me something important: courage isn’t about size, but it is about voice, presence, and integrity.

Lessons from Advocacy: Caring for Jonny and Myself

Me and Jonny inviting people to ask their questions around disability

Caring for Jonny sharpened something that was already forming, the courage to advocate clearly, to speak without dilution when it mattered most. His wellbeing depends on vigilance and clarity, and that same courage applies to my own voice.

The skills that caregiving requires, resilience, clarity, uncompromising honesty, became the foundation for amplifying my own voice. The way I stand up for Jonny and protect him has shown me how to do the same for myself.

The Challenge of Speaking Hard Truths

Over time, I’ve found myself drawn toward speaking truths that often remain unspoken, the insights that sit just beneath the surface of polite conversation. As John 8:32 says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Speaking truths allows me to live with integrity, authenticity, and freedom.

Life is full of difficult experiences, overlooked insights, and realities that don’t fit the fluffy narratives people offer to make the world “safe” or simple. I seek hard truths, the words for what people often can’t or won’t articulate, and I believe that naming them is the first step to freedom and meaningful connection.

Adventure Isn’t Just Outside: It’s Within

Adventure isn’t only about landscapes or travel. Some of the hardest terrain is internal, navigating expectation, assumption, and the work of finding one’s voice in a world that prefers comfort over honesty.

Just like the lions, who were never asked to shrink for comfort, there is freedom in allowing ourselves to be seen, to speak, to resonate in our own way even if that resonance creates dissonance for some. A lion’s roar carries not just volume, but resonance. It moves through the air and settles deep in the body of those who hear it. That’s the kind of voice I seek in writing, not loud for the sake of noise, but grounded enough to reach beyond the moment.

Exploring your inner voice is a journey of self-discovery, empowerment, and growth and it’s as real as any adventure outside.

Finding the Courage to Resonate

on the road to another adventure

Finding your voice is ongoing work, learning to speak what matters without shrinking it, and to trust that resonance matters more than volume.

Maybe that’s a big part of being fully alive: discovering the strength to be yourself, unapologetically, even when it feels too much for some. Not every voice will resonate with every listener, and that’s part of its integrity. It is who we are when we embrace our voice in its fullness.

If reflections on voice, courage, and lived experience resonate with you, you’re welcome to subscribe and follow along as this work continues to unfold.