Emotional PPE

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Happy Monday!

Are you wearing an emotional PPE?



I was watching Brene Brown's special on Netflix yesterday.  This was purely because I was doing my laundry and would like to "watch" something without having to constantly look at the television as I go about my work (so yes, Koreanovela is definitely out).

I watched it once before and somehow I felt like I was watching it for the first time. She is so witty, she was bordering on being a standup comedy act half the time.  Maybe that is part of her vulnerability showing - to make fun of situations, even her own. I highly recommend that you watch it. 

Her talk on vulnerability actually reminded me of a friend telling me recently that I have an emotional PPE (PPE being such a common word nowadays with these virus).  Specifically, he said I was hard to please, that I do not let my real emotions show easily.  Whew! That was hard to swallow.

I fought tooth and nail to explain myself but in the end, as in any conversations like this, I stop to consider.

If I were wearing an emotional PPE, what would I look like?
  1. I would not want my feelings to show, in fear of not being reciprocated or feeling like I am the only one feeling that way over a situation. 
  2. I would always cast a doubt on other people's intentions for doing what they do. Never too careful.
  3. I would not tell things as they are so that I do not have to deal with the consequences later. 
  4. I would not want to be shamed, ridiculed, made fun of.    
  5. I would "engineer smallness" so as not to catch attention.   
Holy Sh#T! Brene, help!

Let's look back at some pointers Brene gave in her talk: 
  1. Getting into the arena.  She said, whatever it is that you want to do and say that you most likely will fail at, do and say it anyway.  You will never know unless you try.  Moreover, only the opinion of those who are actually  in the arena with you should matter. 
  2. It takes courage to be joyful. It takes vulnerability to be courageous. Giving joy a chance means that you are giving your self the permission to risk failing hard, being hurt badly, and being shamed. Why? Because otherwise, you'd always be afraid
  3. The opposite of belonging is fitting in.  Fitting in is abandoning yourself because you are afraid you will not be accepted. Belonging is embracing yourself because the very qualities that makes you different is the one that people around you love.  Stay true. 
As I was already told, we are already on a global reset.   Everybody is figuring things out. Pantay pantay na tayo ulit. We "below".  Time to grow up!

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