Shania Twain was a rising county singer on top of the world a few years ago. And then it happened…she was silenced!

Shania had the talent and ambition and her ex-husband, Mutt Lange, had helped her forge a new genre of county music – county, pop, rock all rolled into a sexy new package. All was well until the day she discovered the ultimate betrayal – her husband having an affair with her best friend who was also her assistant.

Shania withdrew and then she was gone…gone from the airwaves, television, Internet – vanished! She’d lost her voice.

I understood her pain and where she was coming from because in the last year…

I had been through so much, I was physically exhausted and silenced.

Last year for me started as any other new year does – full of potential and promise. And then my dog died, my 63 year-old father went into a hospital and in less than a month was gone. A project that was to be my career went sideways through no fault of my own, a retail store I had with my husband for more than 11 years had to close, bills weren’t paid, the cupboards were bare, fear of losing a house and then having my spouse move away permanently for 6 months to work ended that year. In short, I was silenced.

Like Shania Twain, I checked out. There were more bad things than mentioned here – in fact on the top 10 stress chart, I had 9 of those things. As a stress-buster coach, I was tested and very close to failing but then…

I realized that my silence wouldn’t help anyone and that this happened so I could help others who were challenged.

Here’s what you must do to tackle silence: being with supportive loving people, realizing you are important and your voice does count, taking time every day to do something that gives you joy, having a vision for happiness in your life, helping others in need and speaking out…

Shania saw a doctor who said her vocal cords were fine; obviously, it was a pychological trigger that silenced her beautiful voice. As she moves forward with courage and conviction and shares her truth, she inspires others to do the same.

Some naysayers want Shania to stay quiet and stop talking about her life. To Shania I say, “Speak your truth, heal your soul, be a beacon for others suffering – be that light at the end of a long tunnel! When you speak to heal yourself, you are healing us!”

To Shania I say, “We want to hear you sing- it’s been far too long since your sweet sounds have filled our lives…”