PEOPLE WHO NEED PEOPLE
EMBRACING VULNERABILITY
People need people and people need you …
“He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire life on one leg”
I’m not going to put myself out there.
I’m afraid to fail.
I’m afraid to succeed.
What are they going to say about me?
What if I’m not good enough?
What if they laugh at me?
Are people going to think I’m weird?
What are people going to think of me?
The list of worries goes on and on. Our minds like to swim in the ocean of complacency.
We all have fears. Let me repeat that—we all have fears. Guess what? They’re not going away. It’s time we embrace the fact that we need to be vulnerable.
Be Aware.
Open yourself up. Be present. Understand what makes you experience this fear. Until I realised my fear was based on how much I cared, I was held hostage. This is the first step. If you aren’t in tune with this, there’s no way to embrace or overcome it.
Be Honest.
Don’t try to fool yourself. Just because you’re putting yourself out there in some capacity, that doesn’t mean you’re not letting fear get the best of you the other 95% of the time. Find one thing to focus on. Get your first victory, and then go from there.
Be okay with it.
I know, it’s hard to say you’re scared or vulnerable. It’s really freaking hard. It’s normal. Your ability to be okay with vulnerability will bring exponential results when it comes to experiencing joy. I bet if you asked every person you’re close to whether or not they experience fear, you would get 80% to say yes. The other 20% would be lying.
Jump.
You’ve got to break free at some point. Take the shield off. Go write that letter you’ve been thinking about for the last five years. Tell someone you’re sorry, even if you think it should be them coming to you. Write that novel that’s dying inside of you. Just jump. I promise it won’t be as bad as you think it will be.
There is infinite power in embracing your vulnerability. It means letting go—letting go of failed relationships, failed projects, and anything in your past that felt like a failure—and putting yourself out there in the now. Until you let go and focus on the present, joy is just a myth.
Don’t wait. Take off your armour. Embrace your vulnerability.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us…Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do…And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others”