Here’s what I got to say about vulnerability: If we choose not to be vulnerable, then we never push ourselves to a limit that feels uncomfortable. We never get that unnerving sense in our gut that tells us “This is hard”, “Wow, I feel awkward”, or “WTH am I doing?”

Why would we want to feel this? Because if we stay in what’s comfortable and known, we sharply reduce our ability to expand our human experience. Obviously, vulnerability is a RISK, with uncertain outcomes. But what we get by walking into vulnerability is adventure, the rush of adrenaline and, most importantly, the potential to learn something important and NEW — about ourselves or others.

Maybe we get burned. Maybe we get our hearts broke. But maybe, even under those circumstances, we learn how to heal and put ourselves back together again. And yet, maybe we win, succeed and blow our own minds that we bossed something we thought was gonna be too hard. Maybe we learn to LIVE better and bigger. Maybe our HEARTS get better and bigger.

Maybe in doing all this vulnerable-type stuff, we inspire someone else to go big and be vulnerable, and maybe they get burned too but maybe not. Maybe they just step into their next big, bad-ass, boss-bitch thing.

Whether it’s at work (admit you don’t know something but want to learn), at the gym (pull-ups for me, I watch others knock them off no problem while I struggle to land one), or sitting across from someone you LOVE and want to love more (but you just aren’t sure how to say so), I say, go for it. Get vulnerable. Let it rip.

Yeah it’s super hard sometimes. But I think if we stop stepping into those tight vulnerable spaces that push us face down (or lift us straight up), we miss out. We never get that on-top-of-a-mountain or rising-Phoenix feeling. We never can really say “Yeah, I did a hard thing.”

The monochrome photo: I had just got done being super vulnerable on a snowy, windy, black-ice covered road in the middle of out west, in the middle of January, driving toward something I cared for deeply. I did reach my destination safely—my heart full and exposed. But I was a bit of a mess. At the day’s end, I took the picture to see if what I reflected on the outside matched the vulnerability I felt on the inside. I wanted to see what I felt.

What’s true: Vulnerability is both treacherous and beautiful. It’s high RISK, with high REWARD. Yeah, we might crash and burn. Yeah, we might get tore up. But sitting quietly in the safety of our living rooms, sipping our coffee and playing it safe, there’s time for that later . . .

As for these gorgeous, vulnerable hearts of ours—don’t be fooled, they are strong as steel. They know what to do. And they know exactly how to get strong again after getting a little (or a lot) beat up. You put your heart out there and got shot down? Ouch. I feel you. Take some time. Rest. Heal. And then get out there and do it again when you are ready. A caged up heart is like rounding up a herd of wild mustangs. There’s something fundamentally wrong about it. It goes against our nature — which is to love.

My plan: I’m gonna keep going big and deep. I’m gonna see how far I can go.

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