Practicing Vulnerability
The theme we’re exploring this week here at STS is vulnerability.
(We’ve got 2 new episodes on the podcast about it.)
Being seen and heard is SO important to us.
We all want to feel valued, to feel like we’re important, like we matter.
Yet, we tend to wear masks and hide ourselves.
We do this because we’re trying to fit in, we’re trying to fulfill a role—whether it be mother, daughter, sister, girlfriend, wife, friend, employee, boss, etc.
We hide ourselves because we’re afraid that the truth of who we are won’t be accepted.
We’re afraid that if those who we love and trust see who we really are, they would turn from us.
That we would be seen, not as angels, but as monsters.
We hide our vulnerability.
Author and researcher Brené Brown studies shame and vulnerability and her work has shown time and time again that—while we are all afraid of making ourselves vulnerable, of being seen in our truth—the majority of people are truly rooting for you.
They want to see you. They admire your courage and your vulnerability.
This very thing that you’re protecting yourself from, could actually be the source of your greatest strength.
We hold ourselves back in a big way from stepping into our fullness or going after what we want out of fear of rejection.
A year ago, I read something on Instagram that said, “Think about how you would move through life differently if you weren’t afraid of being rejected.”
That inspired me to begin putting myself out there and facing rejection as much as possible.
I figured – the more I started facing my fear, the less scary it would become.
And it changed me. It even led me to attracting the healthiest relationship I’ve ever experienced.
I resonated so much with Emily’s story on the podcast, how she also overcame her fear of rejection.
I think Emily & I both are now embodying our Liberated Woman era.
The Liberated Woman can look people in the eye without feeling awkward.
She doesn’t flinch, doesn’t look away or overthink it, doesn’t shift under the weight of connection.
She trusts herself, and therefore she trusts others.
Not like the days when she was a girl and flitting between hiding and faking. No, not anymore.
Now she sits up, shoulders back, she doesn’t hold her breath anymore or think of her reply while the other speaks.
And as if by magic, this attitude started to generate miracles for her. ✨
She receives more appreciation, more opportunities, is loved and seen and supported, more than she ever was before.
Vulnerability has the power to completely transform our experience.
I’d like to invite you to answer the question now:
How would your life look differently if you weren’t afraid of rejection?