This is an archived blog from when I ran Conscious Public Relations Inc. from 2008-2018. Excuse the potential outdated-ness!
Since I skipped blogging yesterday, today’s is an epic one.
Photo credit: TheDailyCougar.com
I spent some of Tuesday night listening to a full episode of Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday in which she interviews Dr. Brene Brown, author of Daring Greatly, who is also known for her recent TEDx talk on The Power of Vulnerability. This reaffirmed my inspiration from Tuesday about how we can never be – and should never expect to be – perfect. Also, OWN is not a free channel, so whenever they make a full episode available online, you gotta watch it.
Wednesday morning I caught up with a friend I hadn’t seen in 8 months. She was in a serious car accident in the summer, and is still recovering and not expecting to go back to work until July. Despite a horrible incident – after which she is lucky to be alive – it was so awesome to see her take away amazing life lessons like gratefulness for the people that supported her, including the hospital staff and the professionals helping her recover on all levels. I haven’t had an experience even close to hers, but we talked about how I am just beginning to be in a place of gratefulness for all the amazing experiences I’ve had, instead of focusing so much on those things, situations, or experiences which I still want to have. Essentially, if we were to die tomorrow, it would be more ideal to have been grateful for life than regretful for the live we wish we’d lived.
I ended off my busy day by reading the April issue of O Magazine. Lots of gems in here, including tips on how to become more confident and raise your self-esteem. Oprah’s interview with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg was a great read. Sandberg’s new book, Lean In, has been getting mixed criticism for its complaint of how women are seen as being bossy when they climb the corporate ladder vs. the way men are seen as confident when they assume roles of power. That’s simplifying things, but the ideas even made their way into the interview.
Photo credit: Amazon.com
I think the point that Sandberg is trying to make is that women tend to do this to themselves. At least, I know I do. Even when she was named one of Forbes Magazine’s “World’s Most Powerful Women”, she was embarrassed and didn’t want to talk about it when people congratulated her. Her assistant finally had to tell her, ” ‘You are handling this terribly. You deserve to be on that list. You’re showing everyone how insecure you are.’ “
I can remember times when I’ve been complimented and I’ve said it was nothing, or didn’t take credit for the work I did. But I am beginning to notice how much great feedback I’ve been getting not just on work but the little things I do, and I am making a better effort to say thank you and you’re welcome, and own it. I have been cleaning up my personal website and having re-written my bio and created a fun list of things I’ve completed in my life, I look back in disbelief sometimes at the fact that I did or experienced those things. It’s so funny how our own egos make us forget how amazing we are.
O Magazine ends off with Oprah talking about what she is confident about, but also having the courage to be vulnerable. She realizes that it is her vulnerability and her ability to connect with people on deeper levels that draws thousands of people to pay money to see her speak. I never thought you could have the words “courage” and “vulnerable” in the same sentence. But Oprah got it, and she’s owning it. So it’s about time we do too.
