3 Signs You’re Ready to Reclaim Your Voice (and What to Do Next)

There are seasons when everything looks fine from the outside—your calendar is full, the to-do list is moving, and you’re showing up in all the ways you’re “supposed to.” And yet, under the surface, something feels… off.

You feel disconnected. Tired. Unsure of what’s next.

You wonder, “Where did I go?”

This is more common than you think—and it’s not a sign that something’s wrong with you. It’s a sacred nudge. An invitation to come home to yourself and your voice.

In this week’s episode of The Voicekeeper Podcast, I’m sharing the three most common signs I see when women are ready to reclaim their voice—and what you can do next to feel more like you again.

1. You Don’t Recognize Yourself Anymore

You’re going through the motions, saying the right things, doing what’s expected—but you don’t feel like yourself. You look in the mirror and feel a little out of place in your own life. That disconnection isn’t failure—it’s feedback.

2. You’re Afraid to Speak Your Truth

You second-guess what you want to say. You avoid the hard conversations. You tell yourself now isn’t the time, or it might be “too much.” But the more you hold back, the harder it becomes to remember what your voice even sounds like.

3. Your Joy Feels… Gone

The spark is missing. Even things you used to love feel flat or heavy. You’re tired of pushing through. That weariness is often your body’s way of asking you to slow down, listen, and shift.

If any of this resonates, you’re not alone.

You’re not broken.

You’re just ready for something deeper.

In this episode, I’ll guide you through simple practices and mindset shifts to begin reconnecting with your voice—gently, sustainably, and in full alignment with who you’re becoming.

Want to go deeper?

→ Download my free grounding meditation to help you come back to your voice: carolinehull.com/meditation

→ Learn more about the Sacred Path Starter coaching series: carolinehull.com/shop

This isn’t about being louder or doing more.

It’s about reclaiming the quiet truth of who you are.

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The Transcript for The Voicekeeper Podcast:

007: 3 Signs You’re Ready to Reclaim Your Voice (and What to Do Next)

[00:00:00] You are not broken. You are not being a dramatic, you are not too much or not enough. Your awakening and that a, you feel the tension between who you are and how you're showing up is a sign that something sacred is stirring. So I thought it would be fun today to share three signs. You're ready to reclaim your voice.

And what to do when you realize you've been living a little far from yourself.

 [00:01:00] Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Voice Keeper Podcast. I mentioned in last week's episode that I was gonna do a little series, and maybe I did. So this is the second episode in the Return to Your Voice series, and today we're exploring the signs that your voice is calling you back.

You may not feel ready. But if you're here, you're already in the return. And before we ground ourselves, because I feel like this needs to be said, we entered Mercury in retrograde yesterday. I believe I'm recording this, , the day after we entered Mercury in retrograde. And oh my gosh, is anybody else's tech just going haywire?

, Today my good camera decided not to work. So if you were watching this on YouTube, welcome to my bad camera. , But that's okay. We're just gonna move forward. , You know, these things happen to test our resilience, so we shall overcome and be resilient. [00:02:00] Alright, if it's safe to do so, close your eyes or soften your gaze.

Place a hand on your heart. Take a big deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. And I want you to ask yourself gently, is there something I've been wanting to say but haven't? See what comes up? We're not fixing anything. We're just holding that, just noticing. And when you're ready, open your eyes and come back to this episode.

Oh my goodness. So today I just wanna share a little like behind the scenes of like what it is like transitioning your business and going through all of that. , Today I woke up and I meditated and I was like, oh, I'm gonna, I get in the right head space for today. I listened to an inspiring podcast. [00:03:00] I, like I said, I meditated on confidence.

, I found a confidence meditation on the insight timer. I have a plan for this week and next week of what I am doing and my business to make some moves forward and around mid-morning, all of that just went ro slumped. , And oh, I think that's funny that I had mentioned, you know, mercury and retrograde because, you know, I think it, it, it is really hard, , especially if it doesn't come naturally to you to hold the energy that you want to have.

I think in general, I have greatly improved in this area. , Holding positive and spacious energy is not. Something that has always been, , natural for me. It's something that , I've had to work out for, uh, many, many years. And I feel like I've become really good at it [00:04:00] in the last couple of months because I've been working very intentionally on it.

Part of the training to become a life coach and a spiritual life coach is. To work on all of these things on yourself. , So anyways, I just wanted to share that with you because not every day is sunshine and rainbows. I feel like I said this in the last episode, but it's true. It's true. And, , this is just a test, right?

This is, this is the universe saying like, do you really want this, Caroline? Like, what are you willing to do? So I. Dug down deep, , posted, , looked at my plan and posted a post on Instagram and, you know, looked at some things and I decided, you know what? I wanna speak. I wanna talk. I'm gonna record my podcast episode today.

And so that's what has landed me here. So let's chat about these. Three signs that it may be time to come home to your voice. And this first one [00:05:00] was a big one for me. You don't recognize the person in the mirror anymore. And this can be a literal mirror. This can be a figurative mirror. This could be a metaphorical mirror.

But think about if you've ever had that moment where you've been like, I don't. I don't know who she is. Maybe, you know, you're doing all the right things, but somewhere along the way you stopped feeling like yourself. You find yourself wondering, who am I underneath all this? And I just wanna like say right now that, that question is not a weakness, it's a doorway.

I think that in today's society we are, you know, told that if we're not confident we're, you know. We're not gonna get anything done. We're not gonna be anybody. And honestly, for me, like having that moment of who is that person in the mirror was, I felt like an opportunity to lean more into who I am and who I [00:06:00] want to be.

And I think it's also like a reckoning moment of like, well, if I don't recognize her anymore, what do I have to do to find her again? , I like to use this example so. Uh, a few months ago, I mean, yeah. Oh, well, it's July now, so this must have been like six months ago. I saw a TikTok post and I wish I knew where the original was.

I wish I had saved it. , But I just scrolled past it like you do. But it, it deeply impacted me. And the TikTok video was a girl, you know. Dressing in clothes that she really loved with an overlay that said, dress to make your 15-year-old self proud. And I read that and my initial thought was 15-year-old Caroline would be so pissed she would be so upset because this is not what 15-year-old Caroline envisioned.

For herself. Now, granted [00:07:00] 15-year-old Caroline was in a completely different place than 41-year-old Caroline is today. But I think the point is, is that who I was back then got lost somewhere along the way. . And, and when I say like who I was, like, I mean like who, who I expressed who I was outwardly especially, I definitely had kind of become this very like suburban mom vibe.

, And if anybody knows me, they know that that is not, that's not me. And so for my birthday this year, I went and got my nose pierced because it was something that I always wanted. And never did. And I was like, why have you never done this? Like what, what is a thing holding you back? And I started to think about it and I was like, well, I'm kind of worried, like what people would think, what my family would think.

And I was like, you know, screw it. Like you only have one life to live. And I mean, I'm gonna tell you like getting this nose ring was like such a catalyst for so [00:08:00] many things. But I've also been dressing more like myself and I, and I question, you know. I question the things in my closet, I question my outfit, what that has helped me do.

Like it. It's almost like you're putting on an armor and it's helped me to be more me in other places. And so when I think about this, you know, you don't recognize yourself in the mirror anymore. I think it can mean a lot of things. And I think sometimes that outward appearance can really affect the N word and vice versa.

And so I just love that. I wanted to share that story with you. I know it. Feels silly to talk about clothes, but when you are not outwardly living the expression of who you inward inwardly are, you can feel very out of alignment with your life. And so I think that's a really important point to make. Okay.

The second sign that it may be time to come to home to your voice is you're afraid to say what you really feel. [00:09:00] Maybe you filter, you soften the truth. You've learned how to keep the peace, stay likable or avoid beating being quote unquote too much. But deep down, it's exhausting. And what can happen is this pressure to perform or please starts to get in the way of clarity around who you are and what you want, which you know, then goes back to not recognizing yourself in the mirror anymore.

I'll give you another personal example. I have experienced a lot in my life and I'm not, I'm not 110% sure I'm adding a little, another 10% 'cause I haven't really worked through this yet, how much I'm gonna share on this podcast, , as I enter this new era of my life and my business. But I will talk a little bit about this for a minute, and I'm not gonna go into too much detail right now, is what I'm trying to say.

But my dad was killed in an armed robbery. He was shot when I was. Eight days old. [00:10:00] And so I have opinions about gun, , laws, gun violence. , And a few years ago, probably around the pandemic, I had become very vocal in my life, , about. How I feel about certain things and I, I would post online and it was so incredibly crazy to me how many people would come outta the woodwork, not just strangers, but family and friends to tell me that I was wrong for feeling the way that I felt and for having the opinions that I had.

And so I stopped talking about it. And why this is so impactful, like to me personally is when I had started talking about it, I was trying to build up to getting involved in advocacy. Yeah. And all of those, those negative things that people said, like I said, some of this came from family. Some of this came from friends who have known [00:11:00] for a very long time.

It really deeply affected me and my ability to believe in the fact that I could actually possibly one day step into advocacy work for, , gun laws and things like that. Like I said, I stopped posting because I didn't want to. I didn't want to stir up trouble. I wanted to keep the peace. And when I really started to step into myself and who I am and how I wanna live in the world, when my heart stopped seven times, I was like, I'm gonna post what I want to post.

And. So if you follow me on Facebook, which I hope you don't, maybe you do, it's mostly just my family and friends. , But you know that that's all my Facebook feed is now is like Caroline's opinions on the world and it feels so good to be able to post and not care. And you know what happened to those people who settle those negative things [00:12:00] and made me feel bad about myself, they disappeared from my Facebook.

They're not there anymore. They don't bother me. They don't, they don't post contradictions. They don't post things to make me feel bad about myself because I believe what I believe and I think that has been so refreshing. But I also have come to this place. Where I don't care because I have found my voice, because I have stepped into my power.

And so if you're listening to me share this story and you're like, oh, I feel very similar, this is something that we can talk about like this is this. You should be able to show up fully as you, with full clarity, full alignment, without feeling like you have to perform or please for other people and.

That is hard in today's society. That is so hard. But can I tell you how freaking Bri it is to be on the [00:13:00] other side of that now and to be like, this is me. This is who I am. Accept me. , Because that's what you're gonna get. Okay. Okay. And the third thing is, oh, this one. So maybe you're wondering if your joy expired with your last life season.

Maybe you had a season when things felt bright and easy and now you're wondering like, was that it? Did I miss my window? I want you to know right now that joy is not gone. It has just been buried under responsibility, burnout, survival, and here's the thing. Rooting into your voice. Finding your resonance again is one of the ways back to that joy.

I am going to tell you that this is one of the things I hear a lot with clients who are in transition. [00:14:00] You know, maybe I shouldn't have left that job. Maybe I shouldn't have burned it all down. Maybe moving wasn't the answer. Maybe, I don't know. Uprooting my family maybe. Homeschooling instead of having my kids in public school.

All of these things come up because guess what? Transition is hard. And even when transition is fully in alignment, it's going to be hard, but that doesn't mean that it's not going to lead to wonderful things and that it's going to lead to joy. A lot of it. It has to do with A, your mindset, but B, like I said, responsibility, burnout, survival.

When we make big transitions, we take on a lot of responsibility. We may try to do a lot at once, so we can make that transition really, really count. And then what happens is things don't go the way that maybe we had expectations for, and we start stepping into survival mode. Well, if I can just get through this, [00:15:00] if I can just get through this.

But let me tell you, friends, there is always gonna be something else to get through. And so part of the work that I do is help you figure out a rhythm. And reclaim that joy through rhythm, right? Reclaim that joy through getting rid of the burnout, through letting go of the shoulds and focusing on what really is an alignment for you as a human being in this world who has only one life to live, right?

And so if you find yourself thinking that, or feeling that, I just want you to know that you're not alone. , I, like I said, this is something that comes up with clients a lot. It's come up with me. I, you know, was actually thinking yesterday, I was like, man, maybe I shouldn't have let go of my podcasting business completely.

But it was not meeting me where I was as a human. It was not fulfilling me as a person and it wasn't allowing me. [00:16:00] To, to see the girl in the mirror who I wanted to see, who my heart and my soul were yearning to be. Right. And so like, it's okay, and I know that it's okay because I can do A, I can do hard things and B, when something is, like I said, an alignment is a calling.

You show up every day for that. And so even like today, like me sitting down recording this podcast episode is me showing up to that purpose, that, that thing, that pool that is calling me what I want to do in this world, right? So there is a way through it. I don't want you to ever feel like there's not, and it does start with coming back home to who you are, to your voice and what you want in this world.

So if you wanna explore this a little bit more, I have a prompt for you. This prompt is what has my voice been trying to tell me lately that I haven't let [00:17:00] myself hear? . If you are not in touch with your intuition or your gut, if you're not good at listening to yourself, this is a really good place to start.

And you can just write for five minutes, set a timer and just write whatever comes up. Let it be messy, let it be honest. But one of the things that I really want to encourage you to do as. You know, you're listening to my podcast episodes. If you're hearing yourself in these episodes and you're like, man, I, I need to take some steps, or I want to take some steps, I want to feel more like me.

I want to be living in joy. Again, you need to start listening to your inner voice. And if your inner voice is not speaking to you kindly, that's something to notice as well. , And believe me, that is something that. You know, I have tackled over the years, and let me tell you, there's just something so amazing about [00:18:00] being so mindful that I am able to listen to myself and know whether that's coming from my mind or from my heart and soul.

It takes a lot of practice. So if this has stirred something inside you, you can start with my free voice keeper meditation. It's five minutes of grounding to support, to help you reconnect your voice before you share it. And I think it goes really good with this episode. , Especially if you're listening to this and you have any kind of online presence, go grab it.

It's carolinehull.com/meditation. I'll be sure to put the link in the show notes. And you know, I really created this because I wanted you to. Be able to have a moment to check in, so you weren't creating, posting, showing up from a place of performance, burnout, or pressure. Again, we're not having to fix anything.

We're just beginning a new. And I also wanna say, before I let you go, [00:19:00] that when this episode comes out, I am running a flash sale on my Sacred Path Starter. This is one of my coaching containers that is perfect for someone who is wanting to start this journey to rediscovering their voice. Please hold while I find the information.

So we do three sessions over six weeks. , I will be sending you between that time reflection prompts and gentle, gentle ritual guidance, , there's also optional check-ins in between those sessions. So if this is something that you're interested in, if you're listening to this and you're like, oh, I need.

I need to take some steps. I need to, to start moving forward again. I would love to support you in that. This is the work that I love to do with my clients. This is the work that I'm called to do. , [00:20:00] And you know, little side note, what a lot of people don't know is that before any session I have with a client, , I meditate for a while on them, on their situation, on any questionnaires they sent me.

Really try to form a connection. , It really does create something amazing and a lot of times there are these little nudges that will pop up when we're talking that. I will feel based on that meditation. So this isn't just coming to a call with like a bunch of to-dos and a list of questions. This is really coming from a place of spirit and intuition.

So again, if you're interested in that, that's three sessions over six weeks. I have space right now for four people. I'm looking for four people when I'm recording this. Some of those spots may be full by the time this episode comes out. , But it is a hundred dollars off right now, so I will be sure to put the link in the show notes.

, Or you can just head to carolinehull.com and if you go to the shop, you [00:21:00] will see it in there. Okay? So let me just remind you, your voice didn't leave you. It just got quiet, but it's still here waiting to rise. And you, you are already returning because you took the time to listen to this episode today.

I am so proud of you. I can't wait to chat with you more and continue this series and I'll see you next time.

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