About vulnerability as a strength or how to be a real badass girl
What does it mean to be vulnerable and why it does serve you as an artist ?
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.
Brené Brown
I discovered Brené Brown, like thousands of people around the world, through her 2011 TED lecture.
But it's no coincidence that I'm invoking her talk today to address you. Vulnerability was my project of the year and that's why I'm telling you about it.
Brené wasn't particularly aimed at artists. However, my feeling is that what she says is especially true for us artists. To exhibit our work is to expose an intimate part of ourselves that we expose to scrutiny, criticism, rejection.
We might be tempted to hide it, to show only the smooth, conforming, acceptable part. But an art that strives not to displease seems to me to be partly distorted.
Yet this is what I tried to do until recently, and it took me a long time to understand how much I was losing myself in the eyes of others, but also in the art of other artists
Their art was always more enviable, more appreciated, and I wanted to be like them.
But here I am not them.
By accepting the risk of rejection, I found my courage, and I found my joy, the joy that had always been there, deep inside me. The simple exultation of being fully myself, without disguise.
And not give a damn.
If you want to listen to Brené Brown’s TED talk, click on the link below :