Recent Reads: Daring Greatly by Brene Brown

What the book's about: In Daring Greatly , shame and vulnerability researcher Brene Brown explores what it means to show up and let ourselves be seen. In it, she distills her research into practices designed to help people be more vulnerable, and in the process be better workers, teachers, friends, spouses, and parents. 

Why I read this book: After reading countless glowing reviews of this book, I finally picked it up. I read it slowly, a chapter at a time. In the process, I used the ideas found in it to spark conversations with my student leaders at church.

My favorite quotes from the book:

- "An ordinary life is a meaningless life." 

- "Nothing has transformed my life more than realizing that it's a waste of time to evaluate my worthiness by weighing the reaction of the people in the stands." 

- "Shame derives its power from being unspeakable. That's why it loves perfectionists - it's so easy to keep us quiet." 

- "The way to fight shame and to honor who we are is by sharing our experience with someone who has earned the right to hear it." 

- "Joy comes to us in moments - ordinary moments. We risk missing out on joy when we get too busy chasing down the extraordinary." 

- "No corporation or school can thrive in the absence of creativity, innovation, and learning, and the greatest threat to all three of these is disengagement." 

- "We need to cultivate the courage to be uncomfortable & to teach the people around us how to accept discomfort as a part of growth." 

- "Fitting in & belonging are not the same thing. Fitting in is one of the greatest barriers to belonging. Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be in order to be accepted. Belonging doesn't require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are."

- "Hope is Plan B." 

Thumbs up or thumbs down? Thumbs up

Who I'd recommend this book for: Anyone who yearns for vulnerability in their relationships with others; Anyone interested in growing as a leader.