Vulnerability is not about winning, and it's not about losing. It's about having the courage to show up and be seen. - Brené Brown

The decision to go on stage implies being open to any sort of reaction that may be addressed by your audience. Then you voluntarily decide to be completely seen.

As in real life so in social media: the more people believe to know about you, the higher your vulnerability. The more open you are, the wider the contact surface.

A natural mechanism in such situation would be to start playing defensively. Still there's another way to manage it.

Here's to the surprising benefits of vulnerability!

@surfermarly admitting her own vulnerability

Embrace vulnerability!

Vulnerability is the place where you exist with no barriers, no walls.

It's actually the place of total potency, total power and total capacity; in contrast to what you're told most of the time. Vulnerability per se comes with a negative touch, being associated with weakness and impotence.

What if we turned these established correlations upside down and considered vulnerability being the place where greatness is set free and where we can be 100% ourselves?

What if vulnerability was the one and only key to a fulfilled life?

Probably the only weak point that we have is that we admit having one.

Forget about everything you know about vulnerability!

Thanks to the open books strategy in decentralized environments like the Steem blockchain, wealth is no hidden secret.

What a tempting ground for envy, jealousy and greed!

Those who have accomplished certain milestones and represent the triumphant elite in the community, need to deal with these side effects of fame and glory on a daily basis.

Admitting personal vulnerability means that you no longer have to defend. Think about being attacked by another user in this community: Who or what are you defending for or against? Once you feel the need to justify your actions, they wouldn't be part of your self-concept anymore.

Thait said if you completely surrendered and didn't fight back, you'd be above such things.

Now I highly recommend you to watch Brené Brown's speech (TED talk) on 'The power of vulnerability':

Image is the antithesis of vulnerability

The problem with image is that we have to maintain and uphold it, while a vulnerable self can just be.

If you're able to come to that point where you recognize that the best defense is a strong and self-confident presence, nobody will ever be able to attack you again. That said an artificially created image would start to crumble at this point in time.

It's a human characteristic that we pretend to make other people feel comfortable. Even though they're the ones that are trying to tear us down, we still pretend to identify the problem within ourselves.

The former American football player Ricky Williams said the following during the talk 'Vulnerability in the face of fame':

Me being me is gonna make other people uncomfortable.

Watch the whole video on this site: What if vulnerability is the key to greatness?

Remember: vulnerability is not a weak point, it's the actual strength of the wholehearted as Brené Brown called them.

While we tend to associate vulnerability with weakness and a lacking bravery, it's in vulnerability where real courage lies.

So be wholehearted and vulnerable, steemians :-)
Best, Marly -

Thanks for your valuable time!
This blog was launched at the end of July 2016
aiming to provide stories for open-minded
people who enjoy living on the edge of their lives,
stepping out of comfort zones, going on adventure,
doing extreme sports and embracing the new.
Welcome to the too-much-energy-blog!

PS: Don't forget that this is a troll-free zone.

Original content. Quote found on quotefancy.com.