Vulnerability as Power

I was hooked the moment I came across Brene Brown's TED talk on vulnerability last year. In just a few minutes she zones in on the power of connection and why we all seek it.

"Connection is why we are here. This is what gives meaning to our lives." 

The thing that underpins all of connection is vulnerability. This is what allows us to be seen and to connect with others.  What keeps us out of connection is our fear that we are not worthy of love. Brown details this in her talk. She discusses courage, compassion, whole-heartedness and authenticity and how these characteristics surround vulnerability. And how vulnerability is the core of our shame, fear, our struggle for worthiness but is also the birthplace of our joy, our creativity, of belonging and of love.

I love all of it.

And I stink at it. Brown gave this talk in front of a few thousand people. She was not aware that her talk would reach millions of people. She got up on that stage and talked about her own struggle with vulnerability. When she found out a few days later that over three million people had seen her talk, she said she went home and hid in the dark for a few days feeling totally exposed. Her best friend called her a hypocrite for talking about vulnerability and then cowering afterwards. So, Brown got up and told that story in her next talk. She opened herself up and told her truth. Before, after and in the middle of this experience.

That's what I want to do here. Tell my story, my truth--before, after and in the middle. It may get raw like "The Chubby Diaries" or it may push my buttons like "Scary." Mostly, it is a reminder to myself like "Waiting until After" that I am not going to tell my story in its pristine, 20/20 perspective but in the messy middle.

I have no doubts it will be messy. Now, it is about the courage to keep it real.