I’m a very loud person; it’s just in my nature. I can’t help that I speak at a volume that shatters other people's eardrums -- maybe they shouldn’t stand so close to me. I know for a fact that I am not the only girl in the world who has a voice bigger than her body. For us ladies who have voices that are louder than a jet engine, we hold these truths to be self-evident:

1. People hear you before they see you.

People always seem to come up to us at parties and say, “I knew you were here! I could hear you from across the room!” Oops.

2. It’s almost impossible to gossip.

We cannot seem to talk about anything secret without someone nearby (or 40 feet away) hearing what we’re talking about. Can’t they see we’re trying to have a personal conversation here?!

3. People regularly tell you to lower your voice.

We hear, “Oh my god, I’m standing right here -- you don’t have to yell,” more than one time daily. It’s not like we’re purposely talking so loudly, it’s just our voice.

4. You lose your voice after every night out.

If you’re going out for the night, you know that you’re coming home with a voice that sounds like you smoke four packs a day. You just get really excited and want to talk to everybody. What’s the harm in that?

5. Nothing is more intimidating and frustrating than places that require you to speak quietly.

Your quiet voice is everyone else’s normal voice, so inevitably people will consistently shush you. I’m sorry that my inside voice isn’t soft enough for you all.

6. You’re really good at presenting in class.

When it comes to giving a class presentation, you’re a goddess. Everyone else before you could barely be heard by the second row, but you project to the back of the lecture hall with ease. Nobody will miss those super important points that you’re discussing!

7. You talk with your hands.

Not only do we assault people with how loud our voices are, we also accidentally hit people when telling a really exciting story. Don’t get us started -- arms will be flying everywhere as we tell you about something super crazy that happened.

8. You got in trouble for talking too much as a child.

In class, at dinner, during family reunions -- you name it, we always got scolded for talking so much. It’s not our fault that there’s so much that we want to talk about!

9. You talk in your sleep.

When you sleep at someone’s apartment, dorm room, etc., there’s no doubt that there will be interesting stories in the morning about how you were talking in your sleep. Maybe someone was talking when you fell asleep and you responded while half-awake.

10. You’re even louder when you’re drunk.

If you're over 21, or have been to an area that has different drinking laws than those in America, you know that alcohol seems to make us talk even louder than normal. We think we’re speaking at a normal volume, but wake up the next morning with no voice and no recollection as to where it went.

Being the loud girl has its ups and downs, but we always seem to find a silver lining in whatever comes our way. We know that we'll get both positive and negative attention; that just comes with the voice. But, honestly, we wouldn't have it any other way.