Emotional Toolkit: Learning to be Vulnerable
When teens are struggling, parents frequently feel confused about what to do, and also carry a lot of shame. Many parents who come to us are afraid to share their parenting struggles with friends and family for fear of judgment or of being made “other” or wrong. For parents bearing the burden of shame, wearing the mask of "doing just fine, thank you, how are you?" becomes another full-time job in managing a struggling family.
When we have the courage to accept within ourselves that things are difficult, it becomes easier to share with others. When we develop the strength to share our limitations and humanness with others, we can be present to the care and support and acceptance that already surrounds us. When times get difficult, this care and support and acceptance is harder to see. This process of living vulnerably--which from the outside can be perceived as weakness--becomes a foundation of great strength during difficult times.
As a company, we are building solutions for families while building a corporate culture of transparency and compassion. Vulnerability is a core value for us. When we share honestly, new opportunities for change and growth emerge. Vulnerability wears many hats in our office, from sharing with colleagues about our weekend adventures to disclosing difficult emotions like fear as we work through business issues.
One recent reminder of how we live our values in every moment came as our marketing intern celebrated graduation from high school a few weeks ago. Her final project was to give a presentation on her internship and to share what she learned in her job. We had designed the internship to teach the basics of marketing, but I was moved to tears at the internship fair to discover that what we were actually teaching was emotional development. Beautiful!
From our intern: “Throughout this internship, I’ve learned the importance of human connection and vulnerability. Working for a company that relies on a trusting and open environment, I’ve come to understand how important that is in the workplace. Being able to freely communicate whilst also maintaining personal boundaries was really freeing and allowed me to take risks in my work. Although my role in the workplace was small, I was able to easily communicate with my boss candidly without fear of judgment. I found it greatly inspiring that she encouraged vulnerability and did so by inviting me into her world and her thoughts.”
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