Let yourself be human. This month, embrace your vulnerability.

I was recently talking with a friend who is going through some major life changes. In order to ground herself throughout the process she had a session with an astrologist. Allowing herself to be vulnerable was one of the biggest takeaways she had – that in order for her to succeed in personal relationships, in her work relationships, and in her life changes, she would need to be open to showing her vulnerability. It would allow her to connect more, to build deeper relationships both personally and professionally, and be true to herself and her goals for this next life phase. 

Ever since we had that conversation, I’ve been thinking. How often am I truly vulnerable? With the people I love? With myself? To be honest, I often go through life “pushing through” one busy part to the next. I am occasionally vulnerable in my writing, but that’s historically been after the fact, after I’ve had time to process and decide what my takeaways were. I’m of course most vulnerable with my husband (I have zero filter in that relationship) but everywhere else, I tend to take a “it’s fine, everything’s fine!” approach. I’ve been wondering, could I be more vulnerable? 

Just a few weeks ago I was finishing up teaching for the semester, juggling kindergarten tours for my son, and a myriad of other work and personal commitments. Each day was passing in a total blur and I started getting up at 5:45am to either squeeze in a yoga class or an hour of work before the day started. On the 4th consecutive such morning, I looked at my puffy eyes in the mirror and asked myself “what are you doing?” In my efforts to make sure I was balancing my personal and professional life, I completely ignored the fact that I am but a mere mortal. The next morning, I slept in instead. I felt refreshed. I didn’t get everything done that day that I wanted to, but I felt better. I felt human again. 

And then the news of the elementary school shooting in Texas came through as an alert on my phone, and I broke open. I was working in news when the Sandy Hook shooting occurred, and while that was equally horrific, I couldn’t understand it like I do now. Dropping my son at preschool the next day felt harrowing. I hugged him tighter, made sure he heard me when I said “I love you.” I’ve wanted to look away from the coverage, from watching parents grieve publically – perhaps the most vulnerable a person can be. But then, I think looking away is what allows us all to move on. Hope it’s not our school or grocery store next, and just continue with our lives. 

I think it’s often easy in our hyper-digital world to ignore facets of our humanity. To turn the channel after we can’t take it anymore. But by sharing in vulnerability with family, friends, strangers, we bond. We can support each other, we can give ourselves permission to ask for what we need. We allow space to demand our vulnerability be met with change. 

So this month, we’re going deep into vulnerability here at M.T. Deco. Founder Melissa Blum is getting real vulnerable about her own digital strategy hits and misses. She’s also sharing advice she wished she knew before starting M.T. Deco – and how being vulnerable is a big part of that. Don’t worry, we’ll also have a heavy dose of digital strategy insights this month as well. We have an innovative way to use Slack in your strategy, plus a long-awaited piece on the future of the internet: Web3. 

As always, we have some outstanding book and music recommendations for you this month from our regular contributors. Lissie Jacobson is serving up the perfect soundtrack to your month, and Megan Collins of The Manicured Shelf has a must-read relationship book to crack open your vulnerability. We’ll also have a deeply personal Q&A with CNN’s Alyson Camerota on how she became a mom, and how she uses her own vulnerability in her reporting. 

I hope you join us this month in embracing all your multi-faceted humanness, and allow yourself to be vulnerable, and let those around you be vulnerable with you. It might be scary, it might feel strange, but give yourself this opportunity to connect with yourself and others. Out of vulnerability we can find strength, trust, and healing. We’ll be right here with you, every step of the way.