Wednesday's Woman: Finding Ordinary Courage

It's funny how if I am aware, the right things enter my life at just the right time.  

That's what happened to me when I discovered this week's Wednesday's Woman, just a few weeks ago.  Imagine my surprise when this week's guest blogger, Kimberly Rues, sent her submission for Wednesday's Woman and IT WAS THAT SAME PERSON.

Who is it?

Well you'll have to read on to find out.  And it's definitely worth your time.

I'd like to give tons of gratitude to Kimberly, this week's guest blogger for submitting this post.  Please, please, please check out her blog Rubber Chicken Madness.  She's an inspiring single mom who can write.  Meaning it's interesting, compelling, good stuff.

Follow Rubber Chicken Madness on Facebook

Wednesday's Woman: 

Finding Ordinary Courage

by Kimberly at Rubber Chicken Madness

I don’t recall the date or time when I first stumbled upon Brené Brown’s work. But I do remember that immediately following my viewing of one of her Ted talks, the substance of my new view of reality was so weighted with wisdom that I recall feeling grounded and rooted and like I could reach for the sky all at the same time.

Take twenty minutes to sit back and let her touch your life.

I had a notebook nearby and furiously scribbled down nuggets of brilliance that seemed to come one after the other as she spoke. Time and again I have re-read those notes. I have re-watched the Ted Talk. I have read her book - The Gifts of Imperfection and am currently listening to the audio version of Daring Greatly as I toodle about town running my errands. And I follow her blog – Ordinary Courage.

Her words and her ideas have a way of wiggling into the cracks and staying there ready to whisper wisdom to you when you begin to lose your way.

I blog all the time about how I don’t expect perfection from my kids – and I don’t. But when I heard Brené’s call to action to courageously accept myself as I am – imperfect -- in order to live a wholehearted life, it was a serious wake up call for me.

I look around at our world, both in my suburban microcosm and in the broader society, and see so much stress, sadness and even depression that stems from deep seeded perfectionism.

Take this statement for example and fill in your own blank:

I am not ________________ enough.

My blank could be filled with: slim, wealthy, patient, organized, thoughtful, blah blah blah….

None of us is perfect, yet many of us strive for it anyway. And in the face of inevitable failure because perfection is elusive, we see ourselves as lacking. Over and over again.

And when I think about Brené as my Wednesday’s Woman, I reflect mostly on this nugget of wisdom from her Ted Talk:

And we perfect, most dangerously, our children. Let me tell you what we think about children. They’re hardwired for struggle when they get here. And when you hold those perfect little babies in your hand, our job is not to say, “Look at her, she’s perfect. My job is just to keep her perfect – make sure she makes the tennis team by fifth grade and Yale by seventh grade.” That’s not our job. Our job is to look and say, “You know what? You’re imperfect, and you’re wired for struggle but you are worthy of love and belonging.” That’s our job. Show me a generation of kids raised like that, and we’ll end the problems. 

Brené Brown’s work leads us to love with our whole hearts, to practice gratitude even when life feels out of control, and to believe that we are enough. And isn’t that what we want for our children? And for ourselves?

WEDNESDAY'S WOMAN IS A WEEKLY FEATURE DEDICATED TO SPOTLIGHTING WOMEN WHO ARE ROLE MODELS FOR OUR DAUGHTERS. . . AND THE WORLD.