Life has lifed… this article was supposed to be published within the first week of June; however, between just not having time and trying to make this article make more sense on paper than it does in my head, here I am on the last week of June putting the final touches on this article.
Now, I have read through this article multiple times to try to ensure that it was easy to understand, and I’m still not sure if it is. But I’ve just decided that maybe it was meant to be a messy article; maybe the incoherent lines of sentences make this article one of my most authentic articles ever.
To that end, I’ve tried my best but, honestly, my best may have not been good enough for this article. However, since it deals with my main Achilles Heel, I knew I couldn’t just spike it because in order to get over shame, we must be vulnerable enough to share our shame. In fact, anytime that I hear or think about the word shame I’m reminded of this quote from Brené Brown.
Shame thrives on secrecy, silence, and judgement. If you put shame into a petri dish and douse it with these three things, it will grow exponentially into every corner and crevice of our lives.
The antidote to shame is empathy. If we reach out and share our shame experience with someone who responds with empathy, shame dissipates.
Shame needs you to believe that you’re alone. Empathy is a hostile environment for shame.(Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience [Random House, 2021],137-138)
So… I have some good news that I haven’t really shared with anyone yet… I was elected as chair for Springfield’s Citizens Advisory Committee for Community Development (CACCD). I’m excited to be in this role and I’m very appreciative of my fellow committee members for nominating me and voting me in as chair; however, my internal dialogue around this election has been very revealing.
This was our second attempt to hold our annual election of the Chair and Co-Chair, the first attempt was shattered by bad weather and power outages. And for this meeting two weeks ago, we had just enough members present for a quorum and to hold elections… there were four other members and myself. Honestly, I cannot help but wonder if I would have been nominated had there been more members present?
But answering that question reveals a whole different conversation that I will tuck away for another time.
