The Power of courage and vulnerability – How 10 seconds of bravery can change your life!

These last few weeks have been a mixed bag of goodies for me. On the one hand I have seen some of my clients achieve some amazing things just by putting themselves out there and being vulnerable.  On the other hand, I have seen some of the closest people in my life go through some of the toughest times in their lives.

In all of these situations though, one thing has remained consistent – the power of vulnerability.  The power of putting yourself out there and being raw and truthful about what is going on for you – whether that is putting your opinions out on the table for the first time, or having the courage to say no to someone or something. Perhaps it is just the courage to say to the people around you that you need their help.

So often in society vulnerability gets mistaken as a weakness. I think it is the absolute opposite. The people who are vulnerable enough to say what they mean and to say what they need, and who accept that they don’t have all the answers – these people are the strongest of them all. These people are the ones we should aspire to.  Vulnerability is not a weakness, it is the most accurate measurement of courage. The people who are brave enough to put themselves out there without any control over what an outcome might be, are stronger than those of us who fear anyone seeing us in any manner apart from the carefully curated version of “perfect” that we spend so much time tuning and tweaking and filtering.

As I write this blog, it has made me reflect on how important it is to choose courage over fear. It sounds so obvious and so easy, but often in the moment it is not. Because often to be courageous we have to be vulnerable. We have to admit that we might not have all the answers and we might not have all of our sh*t together in the way that we like people to think we do.  How many of us can truly say that we choose courage over fear every time? That we let fear of the unknown rule over the courage to seize the new opportunities in front of us.

How often do we take the leap of faith? Take the deep breath and ask the tough question? Say yes to something when every part of us is yelling out no? It is those 10 seconds, where we could go either way, that ultimately have the power to shape the direction of our lives. 10 seconds of bravery or vulnerability could completely change the course of your life.

Three questions to ask yourself, each time you feel that you might be letting fear overtake courage.

Firstly, what is the worst thing that can happen to you if you select courage over fear in whatever the current situation might be?

Secondly, what is the true likelihood that the worst thing that could happen, will actually happen?

Thirdly, what could you, or would you do to reverse things, if the worst thing above actually DID happen? What could you do to fix it?

These all sound fairly simple, but if you work through these steps mentally each time you are thinking about doing something that takes courage, or something that you haven’t done before, you will instantly feel more confident. Why? Because you have already worked out in your head that even if the worst of the worst does come true, you CAN fix it, you WILL grow from it, and you WILL be ok.

If you need some more inspo, check out this amazing and inspirational TED talk by Brene Brown all about the Power of Vulnerability – I promise you, it is 20 minutes well spent!

Now.....what will be the first thing that you consciously push forward with courage in, and seize the opportunity of the unknown, instead of the fear of it??

I help women get out of their own ways. I help you deal with the overthinking. The Imposter Syndrome. The self-doubt. All the things currently getting in your way of being a confident, kick a** woman in your workplace and in your life.