The other day I was singing - practicing a song for my voice lesson - and feeling frustrated. I couldn’t figure out how to sing like my voice teacher was instructing me to sing. I could tell when my voice was sounding good but it was difficult for me to presence why it sounded good one minute and then not quite right the next minute. Then, after some time, I stopped singing and tried to sing another song I like a lot. And I felt the same frustration, it wasn’t coming out the way I wanted it to come out and I couldn’t figure out why. I started doubting the quality of my voice.

This made me take a step back and look at what I was doing. In truth, I was trying to sound like someone else. What I realized was that my definition of sounding “good” meant my voice was sounding like another person's voice - either my singing teacher or a popular artist. 

I was trying to sing someone else's song. No wonder I was having such a hard time figuring out how to get my voice to sound better - I wasn’t honoring my own voice. 

It was a breakthrough for me. It may sound simple and maybe even obvious. But it was a reminder to me about authenticity.