Have you ever experienced a vulnerability hangover?

Last week I experienced a major vulnerability hangover, have you heard of this before?

A vulnerability hangover was coined by author and speaker, Brene Brown. It’s the ensuing and somewhat inevitable feelings of discomfort and feeling exposed after sharing something deeply vulnerable and personal.

Have you ever experienced this? After I launched my Summer products last week, all I wanted to do was hide. I had spent months pouring my heart and soul into those bags and bundles and now I had kicked them out of our cosy studio into the world. The feedback was wonderful and watching the joy they brought to their new owners was amazing, but I just couldn’t shake the discomfort of being so exposed.

Each morning, I’ve woken up feeling uncomfortable (not physically, my bed is gloriousss); but uncomfortable because I know I have to keep showing up and keep pushing and keep being brave if I want to grow this business and man, is that hard when most days I just want to be quiet and keep to myself.

But you know what I realized? Change is on the other side of being uncomfortable. Growth is on the other side of doing scary things. We cannot expect to grow and mature if we never push ourselves to be uncomfortable.

That looks different for everyone. One persons brave moment is another person’s everyday. Do not look to the left or right, but run your race. Being brave could mean saying hi to a stranger, it could mean picking up a paintbrush and dusting off the watercolors. It could mean finally buying that domain name for the business you’ve always wanted to start. It doesn’t need to be big, nobody even needs to notice.

But I encourage you to do something brave today and sit with the discomfort that will (probably) linger. You have been given gifts and talents that this world needs, so use them!

I would LOVE to hear if you’ve ever experienced this or what brave thing you are planning to do this week!