Showing Up Authentically Me — Voice and All

In this honest Shower Sprinkle I share a real-time realization about what it means to truly show up—even when things aren’t perfect.

After almost skipping this episode because my voice wasn’t 100%, I found myself asking a deeper question:

Who am I… if I only show up when everything feels perfect?

Through a vulnerable moment, I explore how easy it is to hold ourselves back—whether it’s fear of judgment, how we sound, how we look, or the stories we tell ourselves about what others might think.

This episode is a reminder that your voice matters… exactly as it is.

✨ In This Episode:

• Why we wait for the “perfect” moment to show up 
• How fear of judgment keeps us small 
• The power of being authentically yourself 
• Letting go of perfection and choosing to be seen 

✨ Shower Sprinkle Reflection:
Where in your life are you holding yourself back because things don’t feel perfect?

What would it look like to show up anyway?

✨ Reminder:
You don’t have to be perfect to show up.
You just have to be willing to be seen.

You can find me at:
https://www.instagram.com/cataton/
https://www.facebook.com/casey.taton/

You can find what sparks me at:
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1AgeRtyojY/
https://www.instagram.com/lmbdcelebrations/

Music by: Jason and Ashley Scheufler
Artwork by:  https://www.instagram.com/graphx_ink/

Transcript

0:00

I almost let something as small as my voice stop me from showing up. Hey friends. Welcome to the Enter Spark podcast. I'm your host, Casey Caton. If you're looking to hear stories of transformation and personal growth, this podcast is for you. My guest and I will be sharing those sparking moments that has changed the mental living a more fulfilling authentic life. I'm so excited for you to hear each unique story. So sit back, relax, and let's get started. Hey friend. Welcome back to the Enter Spark podcast. I'm your host, Casey Taton. This is a shower sprinkle, and I'm just gonna be really honest with you right from the start. I almost didn't record this episode because my voice is not a hundred percent right now. As I was standing in the shower thinking. Oh my gosh, I don't sound good. What are people gonna think? Do I even record like this? The realization came to me. This is exactly why I need to record. If you've been listening to my last few episodes, you know that I've been sharing a lot about fear breakthroughs, trusting and pausing, and this moment right here that I'm sharing with you. It's truly just another layer of that because honestly, this is real life. So I'm gonna give you a little backstory with part of my medical journey is that I have had some vocal cord damage and I also deal with a lot of dryness, like dry throat, dry eyes, and honestly. Being out in the Kansas Wind all weekend probably didn't help me, but I did anyway. I love being outside and you know, I'm just living. And I even remember on Monday saying, man, I sure feel windblown. And that was probably the sign saying my body is telling me something like, maybe slow down Casey, maybe rest. But I chose to push through the weekend and now here I am with a voice that sounds just like this. The reason I wanna share this with you is earlier this week I was on a Zoom call with one of my mentors and she was talking about who are you? Who are you really? What makes you different? What makes you, you? And I had a question that I wanted to ask, but I didn't raise my hand, and you wanna know why? Because my voice sounded just like this, and later it hit me and I was like, holy crap, Casey, you're holding yourself back from using your voice. Because I was worried about how it sounded and how others would feel. And I thought, wait a second, who am I? Honestly, this is me. My voice does this sometimes. Sometimes it's strong, sometimes it cracks. Sometimes it sounds like this. And I can either wait until it's perfect, which is it ever really gonna be perfect or. I can show up anyway because in the long run, if I wanna speak on stages or I want to leave an impact on people going out, speaking wherever I speak, I don't get to cancel myself every time something isn't perfect or my voice maybe sounds a little off to me. This was a moment I realized something. I wasn't just holding myself back in that moment, unfortunately. I also didn't send a voice message to a friend this week because of my voice. I didn't raise my hand because of my voice. I was seriously shrinking myself over something that is part of me. Honestly, underneath all of this, it was fear of judgment, fear of what people might think, fear of stories that may not even be true. And then I was in another mentor call and I found myself in a breakout room with two amazing women. And at first you guys, I honestly apologize for my voice. I told them I was sorry. And right after I said, I'm sorry. I thought, why did I just say that? Why am I apologizing for being me? The conversation went on in the breakout room and we started talking about podcasting and they shared they've been wanting to start one. And if you know me. It truly lit me up. I was like, yes, yes. Do it. The world needs your voice. It doesn't have to be perfect. Just start. And one of the beautiful ladies said to me, Casey, I know you said you're not feeling a hundred percent, but your whole face just lit up talking about that, and that moment hit me. Even with a voice that fills off, I was still showing up. I was still impacting people, and I was still being authentically me, and at the same time I was telling them their voice matters while holding my own voice back. So I honestly just wanna reflect this back to you. Where are you holding yourself back? Because something doesn't feel perfect. Where are you not showing up because of the fear of judgment? Where are you telling yourself a story that probably isn't even a true story. Because here's what I came back to in all of this, I'm allowed to show up exactly as I am, voice cracks, squeaky voice, whatever you wanna call it, all of it, because I am human and I'm me. And if someone doesn't like that, honestly, that's fine. They're not my people, but the people who are my people, they're not here for perfection. They're here for truth. They're here for connection. They're here for me. So this is me showing up, not perfect, not polished, but real and authentically me. And I just wanna say I'm so grateful that I have a voice to share with you all. Even on the days it may sound different. If you're listening to this, let this be a reminder. You don't have to wait until everything is perfect to show up. You just have to be willing to be seen. Thanks for listening to this shower Sprinkle. I love you all so much and thanks for listening to me being authentically me. Thank you for tuning into another episode. I hope today's story inspired you to embrace your own journey of growth and change. Remember, transformation isn't always easy, but it's always worth it. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe. Share it with a friend, and leave a review. If you found something that sparked you in this episode and may spark a friend, I encourage you to go share with them. If you have your own story you would like to share, I would love to hear it. So please reach out to me. Until next time, friends, go have some fun and let those sparks lie.