Lets talk about vulnerability

Sorrell Millis
Oct 15, 2024
2 min read

What's your relationship with being vulnerable? I personally don't have a problem with it, ask any of my friends! I'm comfortable with baring my soul, being honest about my feelings and emotions, sharing intimate stories, even if sometimes I suffer the consequence and feel rejected, unsupported or ashamed. But I know this isn't the case for most of us and fear of vulnerability often arises within my clients in sessions, I get it, it can be scary to put ourselves out there and have people see us as we really are.

I was curious about the topic and a colleague recommended this TED Talk. It's a talk I find I come back to time and time again. It speaks to me and it moves me, exploring and uncovering the essence of being a vulnerable human and what that means. Brene is engaging, funny, intelligent & insightful and I highly recommend that everyone watches it.

"Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to take if we want to experience connection." – Brene Brown

So who is Brene Brown?

An introduction

Let me introduce Brene Brown for those who aren't familiar with her. Taken from her own website www.brenebrown.com, her opening line is:- I’m a researcher, storyteller, and (currently enraged) Texan who’s spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. She's written books, published papers, made podcasts, had a Netflix show 'The Call To Courage', raised a family and so much more.

At some point Brene started studying shame. After being to the depths of 6 years of research into understanding shame, after she'd collected & collated 1000's of pieces of data, written a book and published a theory, Brene came to a stumbling block, something was still niggling at her. She wanted to unravel why some people had such a strong sense of love and belonging and other struggled for it, others didn't feel good enough. She discovered the only difference was the first group BELIEVED they were WORTHY of love and belonging.

Brene then deep dived into the topic of WORTHINESS, searching to uncover the patterns and themes that allowed some to feel worthwhile and others not. It led her on a discovery of courage, compassion and connection, which ultimately was underpinned by VULNERBILITY.

I could say more, but there's really no need, find out what Brene uncovered but carving out 20 minutes just for you, to sit and absorb this witty and heart warming talk.

"Vulnerability is the core of shame and fear but it appears that it's also the birthplace of joy, of creativity, of belonging and of love." – Brene Brown