Hey everyone, it's Dr. Jenna Glover here, your guest host for Pride Week.

Welcome to Radio Headspace and to Thursday.

If you've been listening, you know that this week is all about how dialectical thinking

can make us more adaptable to life's ups and downs, and a big part of that is speaking

your truth.

So today, I'm going to talk about how to communicate your needs, cultivate self-respect,

and build healthier interpersonal relationships unapologetically.

I would define speaking your truth is being able to express your values and the things that

are important to you.

Just being able to say, this is exactly who I am, regardless of how others may respond.

When we speak our truth, we're able to join another person in a different way.

We're able to say, this is part of who I am, and it connects us to them.

We're able to authentically communicate with each other and understand, is this a relationship

that works for me?

When we hide parts of ourself, it puts this extra stress on us that we have to be constantly

monitoring how people are perceiving us and what we do and don't share, and with those

kind of constraints, it's hard to have authentic and meaningful connection.

We need other people, and when we neglect that part of our life, we suffer because of

it.

Being able to have community and family and tribes to support us is an essential way that

we get through the difficulty and the adversity of life.

What keeps us from speaking our truth is a fear of how others will respond.

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