There’s a moment in healing that changes everything. It’s the moment your story leaves the safety of the page and enters the space between you and another human.
This is Step 3 of the Brave Story Medicine™ method: Read your words out loud to someone you trust.
To review, Brave Story Medicine™ has 5 steps:
- Journaling
- Read your words out loud to yourself
- Read your words out loud to someone you trust (or a small group)
- Publish your words
- Grab the microphone and share with an audience
Step 3 isn’t about performance. It’s not about being polished. It’s not about getting feedback. It’s about being witnessed. And being witnessed—truly seen and heard—can be one of the most powerful healing experiences a human can have.
In this step, your voice becomes medicine. Your truth becomes real. And fear begins to loosen its grip.
A Brief Review of Steps 1 and 2
Before we go deeper, let’s ground ourselves in the journey so far.
Step 1: Journaling Your Truth
In Step 1, you wrote your story down.
You didn’t worry about grammar or structure.
You focused on honesty.
You let the words come as they were.
This step is about awareness.
Step 2: Reading Your Words Out Loud to Yourself
In Step 2, you read your words out loud—just to you.
This is where vibration enters the process.
Your body hears your truth.
Your nervous system responds.
Your emotions move.
Hearing your own voice speak your story can bring up tears, relief, or deep calm.
It often reveals which words carry energy—and which ones need more compassion.
This step builds self-trust. You begin to believe yourself. You begin to hear your own wisdom. And that prepares you for what comes next.
Step 3: Reading Your Words Out Loud to Someone You Trust
This is where healing deepens. Because healing doesn’t happen in isolation. Humans are wired for connection. We regulate through relationships. We heal through being seen. When you read your words out loud to someone you trust, your story enters a shared field. And something powerful happens there.
I’ve been journaling since I was 15. It wasn’t until I started speaking my written word out loud that I felt the power of them. My fear of speaking up (even with friends and family) was real. I felt safer being quiet, and didn’t claim my out loud voice until well into adulthood. I started by reading poems out loud to myself and noticing a visceral reaction. I was curious about that, about the felt sense I had when I heard my own words. When I started sharing with others, mostly my BFF, or other friends I trusted, I tested my courage. It meant something more when someone else acted as my witness, and of course, had a reaction.
The Power of Voice + Witness
Your voice carries more than sound.
It carries:
- Emotion
- Memory
- Energy
- Truth
When you speak your story out loud, you’re no longer hiding from it. And when someone else hears it—with care and presence—it changes how your story lives inside you.
A witness does not fix.
A witness does not judge.
A witness simply holds space.
That alone can be deeply regulating and healing.
Why Being Witnessed Is So Healing
Many of us learned early that it was not safe to speak.
We were told:
- “Don’t make a big deal.”
- “That wasn’t so bad.”
- “You’re too sensitive.”
- “Just move on.”
So we swallowed our stories. And when a story is swallowed, it doesn’t disappear.
It lodges in the body. Being witnessed helps release it.
Here’s why.
1. Your Story Becomes Real
When someone hears your words and stays present, your experience is validated. Not evaluated.
Not minimized. Not corrected. Validated. This can be life-changing.
You realize:
“What I lived through matters.”
That realization alone can soften shame and self-doubt.
2. Your Nervous System Learns It Is Safe
Fear often lives in the body, not the mind. Reading your story out loud—especially a vulnerable one—can feel scary at first.
But when nothing bad happens, when the listener stays calm, when you’re met with care…
. . .your nervous system learns something new:
“I can be seen and still be safe.”
This is a huge step toward healing and empowerment.
3. Shame Loses Its Power
Shame thrives in secrecy.
It tells you:
- “Don’t let anyone know.”
- “This makes you unlovable.”
- “You should be over this by now.”
But shame cannot survive being spoken in a safe space. When you share your words with someone you trust, shame begins to dissolve. Because shame needs silence to live.
4. You Build Courage Through Action
Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is doing the thing while you feel the fear. Each time you share your story and survive it, fear loses its authority.
You begin to realize:
“I am braver than I thought.”
This matters deeply—not just for healing, but for book-writing, publishing, business-building, and leadership. You’ll never feel clear, confident, or courageous enough first. The action creates the catapult to those feelings.
When I started to share my writing with friends, and then small, safe groups, even though I shook when I did it, I built more courage. The action of speaking up through the fear made it easier every time I did it. Soon, I spoke to bigger groups and eventually stepped onto stages. We’ll get to that fully in Step 5.
How This Step Supports Book-Writing and Publishing
If you want to know whether a story belongs in a book, read it out loud to someone you trust. Your body will tell you.
You’ll feel:
- Where your voice tightens
- Where emotion rises
- Where energy flows
This step helps you identify the stories that are alive—the ones that will connect with readers. Many authors discover their most powerful chapters through this process. And in book-writing retreats and community-building spaces, this step often becomes the turning point. Because authors stop writing alone and start writing in truth.
Choosing the Right Person to Witness You
This step only works if the listener is safe.
Choose someone who:
- Listens without interrupting
- Does not try to fix you
- Respects confidentiality
- Can hold emotion without panic
This could be:
- A close friend
- A therapist or coach
- A writing partner
- A member of a trusted writing group
You’re not looking for feedback. You’re looking for presence. And when the time comes that you’re ready for that feedback, you can take that step.
How to Set the Container
Before you read, set a clear intention.
You might say:
- “I don’t need advice—just listening.”
- “Please don’t interrupt.”
- “I’m practicing being brave.”
This creates emotional safety for both of you. Then read slowly. Pause when you need to.
Breathe. Let your voice shake if it does. That is part of the medicine.
Every time before I speak to a group of people (this happens more in person than online now) I feel my heart racing. My body reacts. It knows I’m about to express my truth. At the start of my speaking career, this would paralyze me and have me in panic mode. I learned to use this purpose-driven fear as fuel and reframed it. This must matter, I silently tell myself now when my heart starts revving the engine.
What Happens After You Share
After you finish reading, notice what you feel.
You may feel:
- Lighter
- Tired
- Emotional
- Calm
- Empowered
All of this is normal. Integration is part of healing. Sometimes the listener will simply say, “Thank you for trusting me.” And that is enough.
When you begin speaking in bigger groups, you may have what people call the vulnerability hangover. This looks like thoughts in my head after I speak, including things like:
I messed that up.
I forgot to talk about __________.
People were looking at their phones; I must not have been interesting enough.
You sounded stupid.
That last message is rarer these days. I can snuff out the worst self-sabotage now and nip it in the bud before it gets ahold of me and sends me to the pit, where I ruminate in shame or doubt, or some kind of anxiety about people not liking me.
This is all a powerful awareness process. Notice what you’re thinking and how you feel, and maybe even reflect on it by journaling (back to Step 1).
Why This Step Builds Community and Leadership
People follow those who are real. When you practice sharing your truth in safe spaces, you build the muscles needed for:
- Community-building
- Authentic leadership
- Heart-centered business-building
This is how stories become bridges instead of walls. And this is how authors become guides.
Step 3 Is Where Fear Begins to Break
You don’t overcome fear by avoiding it. You overcome fear by meeting it with support.
Reading your words out loud to someone you trust teaches you that:
- Your voice matters
- Your story belongs
- You’re not alone
This is Brave Story Medicine™ in action.
Key Takeaways from Step 3
- Healing deepens when stories are witnessed
- Your voice carries emotional and energetic truth
- Safe sharing helps regulate fear and dissolve shame
- This step builds courage, clarity, and connection
- Being witnessed supports book-writing, self-publishing, and leadership
What Comes Next
In Step 4, we will explore what happens when your story begins to connect with others through publishing—and how resonance becomes a form of medicine. Because healing does not stop with you. In Step 4, more than your mom and BFF are going to read your brave words, and that is how your legacy begins to change the world.
If you’re curious about how the Brave Healer community is gathering, writing, and publishing, please reach out to us.
