Transparency & Vulnerability Are For The Birds. Or are they?
I’ve learned that the best way to create connection is to be transparent and vulnerable. I didn’t always think that. Vulnerability used to scare the living shit out of me. Share my soft underbelly with others, are you kidding?!
Traversing down memory lane I think back to my first blog in 2005. Transparency was nowhere to be found. And vulnerability was hiding under the covers. What took their place in the blogosphere was fluff. Polly-Anna positive, sugarcoated fluff.
I don’t like fluff, so what made me think others would?!
I want to know what lies at the heart of someone, the fires they have walked through that make up who they are. I don’t connect with perfect. I connect with the real!
So in honor of keeping it real I thought it would be fun to answer some questions. (Thank you SocialTalent for some of these.) And I’d like to invite you to be transparent and vulnerable with me. The more the merrier.
Here goes…
What would your autobiography be called?
The Musings Of A “Woo-Woo” OR I Don’t Need To Be Fixed Because I’m Not Broken
How would you describe to a child what you do for a living?
You know when your favorite toy goes missing and you feel really sad? That’s what happens to adults when we lose what’s important to us. I help those adults find the things that are most important to them so they no longer feel sad.
What is a pet peeve of yours?
When people don’t say “Thank you!” and not just to me, but to others. It drives me frickin’ nuts! It’s my version of nails down a chalkboard. Uh-oh…I feel a vent coming on… It truly pisses me off when people don’t extend the common courtesy of a “thank you”. It doesn’t take much energy and it’s a nice way to show a little gratitude. I think expressing gratitude is a cool thing. It feels good to share it and to receive it. At the end of the day, the person that did that nice thing didn’t have to… they made a choice to do so, so why not acknowledge it with a “thank you”?!
What’s one of your most embarrassing moments?
It’s a toss up between my hot chocolate experience my freshman year of college and my little clothing malfunction during a visit to the UK. Since I can’t decide, I’ll share both.
I was having dinner with some new friends in the cafeteria across from my dorm. We were chatting away, getting to know one another, and at the very moment I took a sip of my hot chocolate one of the guys at our table said something really funny. No chance for me to swallow that hot chocolate before it came spewing out of my mouth, covering the table.
No sooner did I get it cleaned up when the same guy said something funny at the same time I was taking another sip. Once again, a spray of hot chocolate went from my mouth across the table.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that it happened once, and then twice, but it happened three times! Talk about first impressions!
Now for my second embarrassing moment…
During a trip to the UK, as we were coming out of a pub in South Wimbledon I noticed people staring. Did I have something on my face? Was there spinach between my teeth? Oh, if only!! What they were staring at was the back of my skirt that had managed to get stuck in the back of my sweater…exposing my tights and underwear to all the patrons of the pub and the passers-by.
I think that gives new meaning to the term “brash American”.
If you could have dinner with a famous person, who would it be and why?
I would love to have dinner with Maya Angelou. I would love to sit and pick her brain and absorb her wisdom about life, self-respect, change, love…all the big topics. She was such an inspiration and she remains an inspiration through her writing. I use one of her quotes as wallpaper on my computer so I see it every day…
“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.”
Amen, Maya…amen!
​What’s your favorite quote?
I’m a self-professed quote junkie. While some people collect baseball cards, shot glasses or spoons from other countries, I collect quotes. So I have to say that this is probably one of the hardest questions for me to answer. I have many favorites. If I have to pick just one, my current favorite is this one by Timothy Leary…
​If you were the CEO of a company name one thing you would make compulsory in the office and one thing you would ban in the office.
I think I would make “naptime” compulsory. Self-care is best friends with productivity because you can’t give from an empty tank. And I would ban negative, critical comments. I think people learn best from constructive, caring comments and not negative, critical ones.
You were just told you that you had 24 hours to eat whatever you wanted without any negative repercussions, what would you eat?
Pizza and buffalo chicken wings. I love a good pie with a side of wings. The “old” me would have said and a cold, frosty mug of beer, but since I don’t drink much any more, that doesn’t sound very appealing. BUT bring on the pizza and the wings and I’m one happy woman!
What is your favorite song and why?
I love music. It’s like crayons for my soul…providing color! Lots and lots of color….so it’s not uncommon for me to take a song and relate it to something that is happening in my life. My current favorite song, which is on repeat, is Rise By Katy Perry.
This is an empowering song and for me it holds a powerful message of not listening to the naysayers in the world, including the ones that are in our heads. The reason I love it so much, it serves as my reminder that I’m not here just to survive. I’m here to rise and to thrive! We all are!
Feel free to check out last week’s post, as I share just a bit more.
What would your pet say about you if they were asked for a character reference?
They would probably say something like…“Our momma is a big old softy with a big heart! There’s no doubt about it. Not only does she love us unconditionally, hug us often, but she can’t resist our little head tilts and wagging tails when it comes to extra treats while she’s cooking. Oh, and she cries at sappy commercials. If it pulls at her heartstrings the waterworks will follow. “
Now over to you. Let’s get vulnerable and transparent together. I promise the water is fine. Who’s going to be first?
Until next week, I send you all much love and light from my open heart to yours…
Originally published at www.whatswithinu.com.
