Humbled by my Vocal Chords

Well Yom Kippur went well for me.

So well that not only did I take away intangible lessons from it, but also one big tangible lesson:

I lost my voice in the process of singing for my synagogue's choir!

I had a bit of a cough for 2 or 3 days before Yom Kippur started, but I didn't think it was anything serious. Apparently it got aggravated from my emotional prayer singing. After about noon time I could barely speak anymore. I think it was a mixture between the slight cough, the fast I was engaged in, and the singing that really did me in well. Today my voice is a little better than it was last night (I could barely say anything without lots of effort). It is still annoying to talk though.

Interestingly, I just had a conversation with a friend over lunch that consisted mostly of her talking, me listening, and responding with either hand signs that I came up with myself (definitely don't know ASL) or what I could muster by talking. It was definitely a change! I think she enjoyed the conversation for its novelty (I'm usually a pretty argumentative person when it comes to many things that can be argued). I think that due to the coincidence of Yom Kippur and losing my voice, a new lesson can be learned for the new year.

Even though I don't believe my listening skills are overall bad, I do believe they can be improved upon. I'm going to try to incorporate this into my behaviour in the future and see if anything interesting happens because of it!!

Unvocally,

- Inkhorn