Vulnerability Sucks

“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” -Mike Tyson

“Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage. People who wade into discomfort and vulnerability and tell the truth about their stories are the real badasses.” -Brene Brown

“Roger Ebert calls snarking ‘cultural vandalism.’ He’s right. Snark makes culture impossible, or rather, it makes the conditions that make culture possible impossible. Earnestness, honesty, vulnerability: These are the targets of snark. ‘Snark functions as a device to punish human spontaneity, eccentricity, nonconformity, and simple error. Everyone is being snarked into line,’ he wrote.”
— Ryan Holiday

“The most revolutionary act one can engage in is to tell the truth.” -Howard Zinn

Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun
But mama, that’s where the fun is -song “Blinded By The Light” by Bruce Springsteen

vulnerable (adj.): c. 1600, from Late Latin vulnerabilis “wounding,” from Latin vulnerare “to wound, hurt, injure, maim,” from vulnus (genitive vulneris) “wound,” perhaps related to vellere “pluck, to tear”

Vulnerability sucks.

It’s hard. It’s scary. It’s not instinctual.

But it’s necessary for great art. And for great relationships.

We want to hide.

But we need to expose.

We want to run.

But we need to stick.

We want to bluff.

But we need to tell the truth.

Like a boxer who drops their hands and opens themselves to get punched.

Why would anyone in their right mind do that?

Because that’s where the magic happens. The best art comes from the painful and the personal.

Vulnerability sucks.

But choose it anyway.