Let’s live “vulnerably”!
I’ve been absolutely paralyzed for the past few weeks. I have not been able to put pen to paper, or rather finger to keyboard, on the two books I’ve started and not completed. It was much easier to do errands, go grocery shopping, do laundry (my favorite!), or just find things to do so that I would not have to face the ominous keyboard and blank screen.
I did not know why I was doing this of course, but after a potentially tense conversation with my husband about absolutely NOTHING (you know, when you get really passionate about innocuous things like toothpaste), I realized what was really bothering me. I was scared. I was feeling vulnerable. My default positions of “Who am I to be writing a novel?”, “Who would want to read my poetry?”, “I’m not good enough…” were clouding out any form of creativity. I truly was my own worst enemy!
I had let the other voices I recently heard and and come to love and believe as truth, become silent. The voices like Charlayne Hunter Gault who said of the teenagers who did sit-ins during the the civil rights movement, they looked deep inside themselves and discovered something they did not know they had, COURAGE. Like Nelson Mandela who believed we all have this GREATNESS within us, and we should let it BLOOM! Like Eric Butterworth saying that “man/woman is a spiritual being with INFINITE POSSIBILITIES within him/herself.” And Brene Brown who says “Courage is borne out of VULNERABILITY, not strength.’ And then “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
My self worth is not caught up in what I write or produce or create. I want to live vulnerably, and be uncomfortable with this experiment. Without guarantees or promises, just the belief in who I am.
Let’s live more vulnerably! Let’s take the risks! Perhaps we will discover something inside of us, we never even knew we had but lay there untouched, undiscovered, unactivated.
Amen, Beth! This is what I work on continually with my spiritual director and meditation teacher — the courage to simply be. Be with what is, no matter what it is. So little in the world encourages that. But it is in that vulnerability that we discover our authentic selves. Press on, sister! You are the best!
Thanks revbetsyfisher! Somehow it’s easier to see the courage in others’ vulnerability rather than our own. But it sure is worth it when we embrace those moments! Keep pressing on, sister!
Beth, this is so true; when we push past the feeling of inadequacy and force ourselves into the ” I can do all things…” mode, our accomplishments are limitless.
When I finally let go and allowed myself to be vulnerable great things presented themselves in my life. My blog for example was a huge leap of faith for me. Best of luck!
Amen! “Limitless” is a powerful word in and of itself! I appreciate you. Thanks for reading!
Thank you Becki! What an enlightening moment it is when you let go and do something you never thought possible, and then just like that, all sorts of things are possible! Congratulations on your blog! Keep writing! Thanks for reading!
Its very enlightening, and also exhausting at the same time.) I look forward to following you.
Becki
Greetings! I use to wonder, how do I shut that voice up that says all of those denigrating things to me. Then after success with stepping out into the realm of faith and vulnerability, I’ve come to know that the voice, ironically, is a prompter informing me indirectly of what I am to do, the opposite of what it says. And then I wonder, after each success, what was I afraid would happen? LOL!!! So I’ve come to know the voice as a normal habitual recording that many seem to have, like a recurrent cold, unwanted yet we live through it. Thank you for acknowledging it in your life.