"Look where I am. I am here."

Wow, there are only 5 contestants left on American Idol. That means my days with Steven Tyler are numbered. Since there are only 5 contestants left, each one had to sing 2 songs last night. One upbeat, one slow. As usual, they showed clips of the mentors coaching the singers before they came on stage. And as usual, the judges would basically contradict what the singers had been told by the mentors.

Show them you can do more.
...Don't try to be who you aren't."
Step out of your comfort zone.
...Don't sing songs that aren't you.

It was a little maddening.

The saddest part was when Haley Reinhart was encouraged to sing a Lady Gaga song that hasn't been recorded yet. They built it up to be this AMAZING opportunity to sing something by LADY GAGA and NO ONE HAS HEARD IT EXCEPT IN CONCERT. They made it seem like this would be a huge honor and blah blah blah. So Haley was very excited and went for it.

And the judges hated it. They told her she shouldn't have sung a song no one knows.

It was like she'd been set up. And while she is always the happy-go-luckiest contestant, even when she's told she's in the bottom three, you could see she really felt the sting this time. Deeply. It was a horrible moment for that show. It was sad. And it wasn't fair.

At some point, Sheryl Crow (the guest mentor) gave one of the contestants advice about dealing with all the pressure and negative noise coming at them and put things in perspective. She said something like: "Forget about everything else and say, 'Look where I am. I am here.'"

Often in our most vulnerable moments, our true selves are exposed. At these moments, I think the instinct is to want to cower and hide. Cry. Cover up. But really, these moments are a gift. They are your chance to be brave and say "Look where I am. I am here." And, even more, This is me. Now pay attention because I don't share this every day.

Last week, libba_bray shared her vulnerability with us in her powerful blog post, "The Ever-Popular I Suck Playlist." I think by by exposing this true part of herself, Libba overcame the monster charging the sword. And she gave us the courage to do the same. She said:

This is the magic/curse of writing: That in crafting your fiction, you leave yourself open to sudden moments of unguarded truth, and you have to be willing to tolerate that again and again. You have to keep raising your sword and charging, even knowing you could retreat scorched and missing a limb. You have to keep doing it even when you don't want to. Especially when you don't want to.

Whether you're performing on stage or on the page, this is what we do. Steven said, "Find your niche. Find the certain something that's 100% you." But it's hard to share that vulnerable you. She can be hard to even look at, I know. You want to keep her guarded. But like Libba says, you've got to be willing to tolerate it. When you do, amazing things happen. Raw, powerful, amazing things. So when you find her, let her be 100%. Take a deep breath. Say, "Look where I am. I am here." And let the words flow.

When Haley was preparing her final performance, Sheryl Crow suggested she start out quiet, with just her voice. Just her words. No other noise on stage. Just 100% Haley. Talk about a vulnerable moment. But in it, you could almost see Haley's thoughts: Look where I am. I am here. This is me. Now pay attention because I don't share this every day.

Here she is: