Asking for help is a hard thing to do. Asking for help at work can make us feel less capable in our professional lives. Asking for help from family might reveal something that we are having a hard time handling in our personal lives.
Asking for help makes us vulnerable.
And being vulnerable makes us feel that in some way we aren’t good enough and that we aren’t worthy of help, support, and connection.
It doesn’t have to be that way. To hear more, I invite you to listen to Brené Brown’s The Power of Vulnerability Ted Talk.
Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent a decade studying vulnerability, courage, and authenticity. Her Ted Talk raises questions about how we find the courage to embrace our vulnerability, to live wholeheartedly, and realize we are worthy of connection. With humor, Brené shares her research and her own story about vulnerability. We realize the deep fear of vulnerability is something we all struggle with. Learning to embrace rather than avoid our vulnerability helps us to come from a place of greater authenticity and connection.
What really struck me about this Ted Talk is that connection is what it is all about. The ability to feel like we are a part of something and that we belong gives meaning to our lives. In fact, we are neurologically hardwired for connection.
What gets in the way of our ability to be connected is our fear of disconnection. We remember all the times we felt like we didn’t belong because we weren’t hanging with the cool kids. That feeling of shame creeps in as the “I’m not good enough, I’m not successful enough, and I’m not pretty enough” script starts to turn in our heads. Shame and feeling like we aren’t worthy is what makes us prefer the pain of a thousand fire ants to being vulnerable.
So, back to last week’s survey and asking for your help. Sure, I could have continued doing what I am doing every week, being in control, and not risking anything. From persistence and practice alone this blog will improve. By asking for your help I exposed that I don’t have all the answers and I let you see me. I worked through my anxious feelings of “what will they say” and embraced the vulnerability.
And finally, since being vulnerable is on the table this week, I want to share one more thing with you. Since the start of this blog, I’ve been insistent that the posts are here to give you value and I’ve done my best to be fairly quiet about my upcoming workshops and classes.
But here’s the deal – I’m launching a workshop that’s coming up in July, and I’m super thrilled and excited about it because this is where the little tidbits of learning can really come together to make a difference for you. It’s the workshop that I feel the most passion about sharing and want all women (and the right, conscious men) to have an opportunity to experience.
When I look back, I can honestly say that one of the three defining events that forever changed the course of my life was attending my first class in the Art of Feminine Presence and discovering the tools I’m sharing through my speaking and teaching.
My goal is to provide massive value and make it as easy as possible for you to say yes to attend a one-day training that will forever change the way you show up in the world. Tickets are half-off through June 19 – click here for info and to reserve your spot at our Early Bird rate.
Thank you again for letting me be a part of your day and connecting with me in this amazing community. I hope that you find value in the Ted Talk and would love to know how The Power of Vulnerability affects you. And, I appreciate your letting me take a few paragraphs in our weekly post to mention an upcoming event that resonates deeply with me and is a big part of the passion that drives me to courageously share my imperfect self, helps me to believe I am good enough the way I am, and has allowed me to live and work wholeheartedly!