Vulnerability

A week ago, in class my professor played a TED talk video by social worker and researcher named Brene Brown. The video was entitled “The Power of Vulnerability.” In the video she talks about her research and how it led to learning that vulnerability is the main factor in people’s lives that allows them to be wholehearted and happy. Vulnerability is associated with taking risks and putting your all out there. It also gives people the ability empathizes, love, and feel like they belong. Before conducting this research, Brown was not comfortable with being vulnerable. Brown was used to controlling everything and while being vulnerable you cannot control everything. Her discovery led her to having meltdown and making an appointment with a therapist to work on becoming comfortable with vulnerability.

During the video while Brown was explaining her issues with vulnerability, I found myself agreeing with her. In a humorous way, Brown explained her journey of becoming vulnerable. Multiple times I laughed and thought to myself, “Oh God, this is me,” especially when she first met with her therapist and wanted immediate strategies without going in depth about her childhood, current relationships, etc. Every time she emphasized the importance of being vulnerable, I realized I had a few slight reactions. There were times when I tried to justify why I need a thousand and one defenses up at all times and questioned if there was a way around complete vulnerability. For most of the TED talk, I leaned towards the screen but anytime she mentioned the necessity of being completely vulnerable I lean back into my chair and felt my face turn into slight disgust. My heart also started beating a little faster and I started twisting my bracelets around my wrist. Usually when I play with my bracelets, I am either thinking because making some type of rhythm helps me to stay focus or I am anxious and making some type of rhythm calms me down.

As you can guess, I have major problems with being vulnerable for good reasons though. Like most people, I don’t like the idea of having myself completely defenseless against people and the world. I used to think being detach was a way of protecting myself. About a year ago, I realized that not being vulnerable was actually hurting me and causing me to isolate myself. I took a few small steps toward becoming comfortable with vulnerability, such as creating this blog, taking down some of my defenses, putting myself out there a bit, and reaching out more. Although I have made progress, the idea of being completely vulnerable still scares the hell out of me. My reactions to the video clearly told me that I have more work to do. The reason my professor showed the video was because, like Brown explained, vulnerability would help to improve various aspects of our lives and helps us to be able to fully empathize with future clients as therapists. Some aspects where vulnerability would be helpful is our relationships with people and our mental health Even though vulnerability is scary, I do want to keep working towards it because with the right people it has leads to being able to bond with them easier and I do find myself being able to empathize with people more. During the times when I am vulnerable, I have been able to learn more about myself.

Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o
Check it out, you may be able to take something away from it

Time to Focus on You:

What are your views on vulnerability? What are some ways in which you practice vulnerability?

Photo by Olayinka Babalola on Unsplash