Wholehearted: The Miracle in July and the Power of Vulnerability
Brené Brown studies human connections—the ability to empathize, belong and love. In the video below you'll find the poignant and very the story of how Brené's research into the mysterious power of being vulnerable sent her kicking and screaming on a personal quest to know herself, as well as to understand humanity.
Hearing Brené tell her story brought to my mind several vibrant scenes from that crazy time I was writing the first draft of that balls-out-totally-ridiculously-outrageously-ambitious storytelling experiment of mine, The Miracle in July. My god, writing it was torture…a hair-pulling, life-stunting, emotionally tremulous torture. I faithfully adhered to the brutal weekly publishing schedule I set for myself. I forced myself to relive every detail of the preventable deaths of my father and sister and a love affair that both destroyed and restored me. I spent hundreds of hours finding, creating and weaving media into my words to allow my readers to be voyeurs in the whole messy affair that is my life. I romanced the darkness of writercrazy and lived to tell the tale, which is The Miracle in July.
Writing MIJ has become one of the most challenging and rewarding things I have ever done. I ended up with almost 100,000 first draft words, tons of readers and new friends, and a completely different insight into what it really means to follow your bliss. You see, I thought this bliss-following business was about going after your dreams. And it IS. But now I know that when you embrace the journey to bliss you must also embrace vulnerability. You must give have the courage to "go for it" despite the fear of failure in full view of the world. And you must wholeheartedly accept this fear and courage and vulnerability as critical steps to finding and following your bliss.
Do you have what it takes to follow your bliss?
Following your bliss ain't for wimps, and being vulnerable isn't wimpy. But you *will* need a whole lot of wholehearted courage…and lots of help and support from your friends. (Mine are wonderful!)
