Book recommendation month, part 3

You know how, sometimes, you come across something in your life and it has such a profound effect that you don’t quite know how to contain yourself? This week’s book recommendation did just that for me. It’s by Brené Brown and it is called Daring Greatly: How the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent and lead. Snappy title!

Brené Brown is an author and research professor from Texas. She has appeared in a TED talk that has over 41 million views (www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability?language=en). The title of her book came from words from a speech by Theodore Roosevelt in 1910 and was about showing up despite the risks and fear of failure – something that many people feel disinclined to do.

​Brené expands on this and explains that vulnerability is not a weakness: “Our willingness to own and engage with our vulnerability determines the depth of our courage and the clarity of our purpose.” Reading it feels like a call to arms, as she goes on to stress how we must dare to show up and let ourselves be seen, by engaging with vulnerability rather than avoiding. She advocates a messy life, one without perfectionism and being ‘bulletproof’.

It’s an immensely powerful book, challenging and comforting in equal measure. I dare you to read it!