day 5

Today I’ve been thinking about vulnerability.

A friend sent me a talk by Dr. Brené Brown and it really hit home. In it she discusses this culture of shame and vulnerability avoidance and how deeply entrenched it is in our culture.

Among the points she makes:

• Life is about daring greatly, about being in the arena. Just as we’re about to enter, confronting shame means facing the voice that says “you’re not good enough” or “who do you think you are?”

• Women experience shame as “this web of unobtainable, conflicting, competing expectations about who we’re supposed to be” / Men experience shame as “do not be perceived as weak”

• Shame grows with secrecy, silence, judgement. The antidote is empathy

• Finding our way out of this normalized shame requires vulnerability. This starts with saying “me too”

I found it especially relevant during a time like this, when we’ve been collectively stripped of everyday freedoms and comforts. What use are the walls we put up in society when we don’t “go out” in society anymore?

We are all vulnerable, whether we like or not. So now that we’re here might as well settle in.

Then maybe, over time, we can mull on this:

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity & change.”

Let’s see what comes out of this.