Thoughts on Vulnerability

Sometimes I’m afraid that I’m not good enough. As I’ve discussed before, one of my greatest fears is failure. A lot of times I don’t try things because I prefer the thought of never doing it over the thought of failing at doing it. 

Vulnerability is what I feel when I do something that I don’t think I’m good enough at. Confidence is the opposite of vulnerability. I believe very few people can face most tasks not feeling vulnerable. The key to overcoming these pressing feeling is, as cliché as it seems, practice. Practicing is at the heart of gaining confidence, and at overcoming failure. The most vulnerable I ever feel is when I stand in front of a group of people to say something. I'm naturally pretty shy, and I try to avoid being the center of attention, but public speaking is a very useful skill to possess. Whenever I have to speak, I remind myself constantly that millions of people have done what I'm doing and that it'll be over soon enough. While practicing public speaking definitely won't hurt, the best way to approach a group of people to speak is to be prepared. When I speak at church, I always have note cards of some sort that help guide me through what I'm saying, because my brain is definitely not functioning. Any time I face something where I feel that terrible feeling of vulnerability, I just think to myself that I have nothing to lose, and life's too short to be turned away from something by a feeling. While it's easy to say, it's much harder to do, and it's something I work on everyday.