How to find your inner voice, with Elizabeth Uviebinené
This week, we caught up with Elizabeth Uviebinené, a multi-award-winning author of 5 books, including Slay In Your Lane. Elizabeth is also the founder of Storia, a guided journaling app designed to help people find their inner voice and gain clarity.
Elizabeth spoke to us about what makes Storia so special, and shared her tried-and-tested tips for gaining clarity in today’s hectic world!
First things first – why is it so hard to find your inner voice?
In today’s world, there are pressures thrown at us from all angles – from the outside and from within.
The way we live our lives means we’re always overstimulated and overwhelmed. From TV adverts to our Instagram feeds, there’s so much noise out there, and our brains are constantly trying to make sense of all this information.
And the pressures that come from within make this process of gaining clarity even harder. The pressures of others’ expectations and our own fears of failure and change often get in the way of us identifying what it really is we want from life.
Why is finding your inner voice so important?
Getting clarity on what you want is key to living a full and happy life. Finding your inner voice means trusting yourself, and that’s especially important in today’s fake news-filled world!
It’s why I founded Storia. As the world becomes more complex, I wanted to build a tool that can help people cut through the noise.
What makes Storia so special?
There are lots of myths around what journaling is and how it should feel. For me, it’s about self-expression: nothing more, nothing less.
Storia is designed to take away the self-editing that often comes into play when we’re journaling.
It helps users navigate their emotions, thoughts and feelings through the power of their voice. For example, the app lets you answer three questions with your voice, and it will then give you a mood and a summary around what you’ve said. It’s empowering and affirming.
What do you love most about what you do?
We like to say that we’re making journaling fun – and okay, fun is subjective! But 80% of people who use Storia tell us they haven’t journaled before, and Storia is designed to help these people. We want to show the power of the small moments adding up to the big moments – and making journaling enjoyable boosts this sense of motivation.
For me, Storia is all about helping people find their purpose, one entry at a time. You don’t have to write pages and pages to achieve clarity – instead, you can weave this simple thing into your daily routine.
What are your three top tips for finding your inner voice?
Be curious. So much of my career to date has been about asking questions! This ability to lean into curiosity – and to be genuinely interested in other people – is key to us evolving.
Engage in a hobby. Not everything needs to be commercialised or turned into a side hustle! Give a new activity a go, and don’t be afraid to be a beginner.
Build a community online and offline. There are always going to be so many mixed messages out there about who you are and what you should be doing. Building community helps you find your inner voice by anchoring and grounding yourself to something.
Want to hear more from Elizabeth? Join us at an IRL event!
Elizabeth Uviebinené and The Know’s co-founder Lynn Anderson Clark are teaming up for an IRL event, taking place Monday 21 October in central London. They’ll share about how finding their inner voice has allowed them to build purpose-driven businesses and overcome challenges as female founders.
Don’t miss this chance to gain valuable insights and get inspired! Get your tickets here.