Last week I was able to experience lectures and conversations that opened my mind deeper into what bravery means in this world. I have been connecting with Brené Brown's meaning of  vulnerabilities and bravery lately and realized that I am braver than I thought.

We look at bravery as something we do and we are only strong if we hold in our emotions. To be brave in this world means to not show the world who you truly are, never see you cry and to not be weak or vulnerable. What if it has been the opposite all along? I read an article that we are lonelier at work than ever before. This loneliness is leading to depression, chronic illness, stress and many other health problems. The main reason being is we aren't connecting in ways that we need to as humans. We are feeling lonely because we aren't expressing our true selves to our coworkers and only have brief conversations in fear  of our jobs. We've been trained to keep our head down at work, sit at our computers all day, only email each other and have neutral conversations. 

This sense of thought is hurtful for our society. What happened to the sense of community? We've lost the knowledge of seeing ourselves through their eyes. We are afraid to ask someone who looks like they are hurting if they are okay because emotions are hard to deal with. We are afraid that these emotions will ignite feelings we don't want to deal with. This week I used these lessons to connect to people. To have real conversations at work to get to know people a little more and connect on a personal level with people I normally don't see. Through these conversations, I found my own loneliness lift a little and that I am part of a community.

We need to learn to heal, experience every emotion and find gratitude in our life in order to start experiencing happiness and joy without the attachment of something bad happening next. We're starting to learn that we are all connected and when the world suffers, we suffer too. Now is the time for us to show up for ourselves in order to show up for others.

So what does this have to do with bravery? When we can fully tell our stories, express our emotions and be vulnerable to the world, we are the brave ones. I always thought that being too emotional and hurting deeply from those around me was a weakness. That I had to suck it up and not show the world how I feel or cry in front of anyone. Over the past few years and months especially, I have learned that the world needs me to show up exactly as I am. My calling is to show the path to bravery and teach others to feel their emotions, understand their thoughts and know they are never alone even when suffering makes us feel this way. Being vulnerable is never easy but know there are people like myself who see you for yourself and know you're brave!

"Owning your story can be hard but not nearly as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy-the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of the light." -Brené Brown