Vulnerability Is the Antidote to Fear

As I sit down to write my very first blog post ever, I feel VULNERABLE! I have this vision and a deep desire to make it happen.... I want to be an online yoga instructor! I spent most of my free time researching how to make it happen. I researched cameras, audio equipment, lighting, online platform, marketing, how to write this blog, how to set up this website, and so much other relevant content. I've spent so much time learning WHAT to do but I still don't know HOW to do it and it has left me feeling frustrated, insecure, incompetent ,and defeated. However, it has also left me feeling excited, inspired, and motivated. That's the thing about vulnerability; being vulnerable isn't the absence of fear or insecurities; it is sitting with those feelings and doing it anyways.

Vulnerability is being courageous enough to face the fears head on with an innate trust that everything will be okay, not perfect, but a learning process of internal growth. The ability to sit with vulnerability is the antidote to fear. It is the ability to sit with the discomfort that happens in life and not run away from it. This is actually a skill that I learned through my yoga practice. I've learned to challenge myself by holding intense poses for long periods of time and using my breath to stay calm through the intensity without running away from it; without moving out of the pose.

I've learned that this lesson applies to all areas on life both on and off the yoga mat. If we didn't allow ourselves to feel vulnerability, we would never give ourselves the opportunity to experience courage. Without courage to try new things, to fail, to learn, to grow, to transcend, to step outside of our comfort zones, we wouldn't accomplish much.

I've come to believe that the primary reason people have an aversion to allowing themselves to feel vulnerability is due to shame. People don't want to put themselves out there in a way that brings out their insecurities, or to try something they can fail at, because if they do it will validate their biggest fear; "I'm not worthy of _______" (fill in the blank). Shame can paralyze us in the fear that if we try something we fail at, then everyone, including ourselves, will find out that we are a giant fraud; so it's best not to even try something in the first place. This leads to complacency which keeps us stuck in a viscous cycle of "I'm not good enough" or "I'm not capable", "I can't", etc. that prevent us from taking the leaps to meet our goals and therefore, we don't have those accomplishments to prove to ourselves that we are indeed capable of attaining them.

You can't succeed at something you don't attempt. The only true failure happens when you give up completely or don't try at all in the first place. Yes, if you fail to launch your goals, that's failure. Those same goals that you chose not to attempt because you wanted to avoid the vulnerability that brings the shame of failure, bring the shame of failure just by not attempting to reach them in the first place and the viscous cycle continues.

This is being written to YOU right now to encourage you to face your fears, reach for your dreams, and stand in the face of vulnerability to find your courage. It might not be easy, but it will be worth it. Once you get into the practice of vulnerability you get into the practice of courage, strength, stamina, wound healing, validation, self love, pride, joy, confidence and so many more invaluable lessons. So please, go write down your goals and start taking action steps to reach them each and every day.

Namaste'