Why I see NO shame in vulnerability. (And why it's okay to not be okay)

Hello, lovelies, and welcome back to my blog! :) 
The subject of vulnerability has always been very close to my heart. May be because us, Russians, are very much a "let me do it all" kind of nation. Meaning we rarely ask for help or share our deepest pain and struggles with people. (At lest from my experience. Every Russia is different, of course.) Or may be I am so passionate about vulnerability because I just know a whole lot of people who feel like opening up and letting themselves be helped is a sign of weakness. That can be applied to anything, really: something as little as needing a quick ride somewhere or something a bit more serious like sharing about physical or mental health issues and other personal matters that can really affect one's life. 
So often I see people I love put this face on and try their hardest to pretend like they are just fine when in reality they are not. And as someone who is BIG on compassion AND who tries to "play tough" all too often myself, I feel for them so incredibly much. I cannot tell you how many times I saw a family member, friend, or even a mentor of mine try and "mask" whatever it is that is heavy on their hearts and minds and try to go about their day as if everything is normal. See, here is the deal: I totally admire the bravery and the ability to persevere that pretty much everyone I know and love has, but sometimes, shit happens and we just.need. a flippin'. break. What I wish we all realized is that it's okay to take a breather or rely on one another for help every once in a while. I think we can all agree that this life ain't an easy thing to live at times and we cannot do it all alone. And I honestly don't believe we were meant to.
Anyway, I really don't want to make this blog too long. All I am trying to say is that when the going gets a bit rough, I hope we all remember that there is NO shame in openly sharing with each other what's really going on, admitting that we need help (to OURSELVES as well as others), and getting that help. Now. I think it's equally important, of course, to first have boundaries and know who to trust with our hardships, and second, only exercising vulnerability when we feel like our hearts are ready.
That's basically all I had.
P.S. To ALL the wonderful, courageous family members, friends, and mentors of mine who, leading by their own example, demonstrated the power of vulnerability to me: I hope you know how much you inspire me. Please keep being you because we NEED people like you and so does our broken world. You are strong, you are brave, and you are so.very.loved.
To all of you, awesome peeps, who read this till the end: as always, you are champs. THANK YOU. Let's keep encouraging one another to be vulnerable.
E.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All.The.Feels. (Coming home, leaving the US, finding a new passion, etc.)

"How do you feel?"- I used to get this question a LOT as I was getting ready to leave the US for an undetermined amount of time and come back home. In response, I used to say it then and I still say it now, having been in Russia for more than a week- it's all the feels. And I am going to try and explain those to you and may be help myself sort everything out in my mind and heart. FYI: this blog is going to be pretty raw and honest mainly because the Russian in me pretty much never sugarcoats things, as you know. So let's go. Imagine being 18 years old, leaving everything and everyone you knew and loved, and moving to a new country. Not only that, but doing this school thing while also fully emerging yourself to a totally new language, learning and teaching environment, culture, and so on. A lot? Yeah, I'd say it was. But years went on, things got easier, foreign language got progressively more internalized and my own, new people became more and more like second ...
Read more

Tips for a less stressful, cheaper traveling experience.

Image
Aaaand hello again and welcome to my second blog post! :) As I mentioned earlier (in my previous blog post), I am lucky enough to say that I have travelled quite a lot and it has become an integral part of shaping me into who I am today. Traveling can be a pretty stressful experience, though, so I thought I'd share some useful tips that helped me. Some of them might seem pretty obvious or cliché, but I still hope they can help you guys too! 1) It is not at all a must to use a travel company.  My parents, when they initially started traveling and taking my sister and I to see the world, used a travel agent. Eventually, though, they learned to just book and buy everything themselves (accommodation, airfare, and such) because it is cheaper and more convenient that way. Now. It is more work because you have to do a lot more research and know where you're going in a country and how to get places once you're there, be able to navigate different websites where people bo...
Read more

Home. (A little about Yekat, Russia, and homesickness. Plus an announcement!)

Image
Hello lovelies! It has been a minute since I last blogged, but I'm back, so welcome! :)  As you can tell by the title, in this blog I'm basically going to write about where I grew up (Russia, specifically, Yekaterinburg) and why I love it so much.  Little general info about us (Yekat, as I will refer to it): we're the fourth largest city in Russia (after Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Novosibirsk); Yekat was founded in 1723 and ever since then was one of the industrial centers of Russia (we have a lot of metal, lots of factories, etc); we stand on a river called Iset; lastly, we are the capital of the Ural Region (cause naturally we had to be a capital of something, right?). And yes, I pretty much knew all this by heart because one of my wonderful teachers in school taught us all this and much more, I just looked in Wikipedia once to double-check myself.  But before I bore the crap out of you guys, let me just say I LOVE my home city. I mean, look at these pics! :)...
Read more