BlogHer Book Club: Daring Greatly

Brene Brown's Daring Greatly delves into the notion that vulnerability is at the core of all things.  Vulnerability and the way we either embrace it, or hide from it, influences our happiness and how we live.

I have to admit that non-fiction is really not my favorite genre.  There are many reasons, one important one is that I am a skimmer.  I typically read very fast.  I gloss over many of the words and just focus on the meat.  However, when reading non-fiction, that is nearly impossible.  Another reason I rarely read non-fiction is time.  I have very little of it, reading is a luxury, a stolen moment, something I wish I could do more of, but with two little kids, who always want me to read to them, very rarely do I read a book without pictures.  When I do get those glorious moments of uninterrupted reading time, well, they are in about 5 minute increments.  Waiting for my kids to be let out of school, or waiting in line somewhere, or right before I fall asleep.  So, reading non-fiction in those few stolen moments, skimming the way I do, means I do not fully digest the meat. It's easy to follow along with fiction, eventually I remember what happened 40 pages and 4 days ago, however with non-fiction, it is like starting all over again.

So with Daring Greatly, I have to say I struggled.  Oh, did I struggle.  I took notes. I highlighted. I re-read and re-read. Don't get me wrong, Ms. Brown is an engaging writer!  She has many important and interesting ideas, I just have twenty million other things swirling around in my brain and I had difficulty keeping up!

There are a few things that really stood out for me. The whole idea of Daring Greatly, of abandoning shame and allowing ones self to be vulnerable, is an interesting concept.  Brene Brown defines vulnerability as exposure, uncertainty, and emotional risk. Why would anyone want to put it all out there, to be that exposed? She states, "Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage". Ultimately allowing yourself to be vulnerable, to be exposed, opens us up to find that knowledge that we are worthy.

Shame is the emotion that keeps us from living wholeheartedly.  Shame is the emotion that makes it impossible for us to embrace vulnerability.  What spoke to me most was the chapter about child rearing and shame.  How do we raise children to live wholeheartedly, with out shame? What are the things we can do or say to remove shame from our children's lives? Since these childhood experiences shape who we are, can we as parents give tools to our kids to make them adults who know they are worthy, knowing they are enough?

I am sure that I will be revisiting this book, returning to areas as I continue to raise my children.  There were many examples and ideas that I want to read again, and try to absorb more fully.  I believe this is a book that can be used as a reference manual to life.

This has been a paid review for the BlogHer Book Club, but the opinions expressed were all mine.