Vulnerability is not weakness. It is our greatest measure of courage. This observation from researcher Brené Brown
addresses emotional openness broadly, but it applies with particular precision to the specific vulnerability required
to rest honestly and visibly, rather than continuing to maintain a performance of constant capability.
Taking off the performance, allowing yourself to rest in a way that is visible to others rather than hidden away out
of shame or fear of judgment, requires genuine courage precisely because it exposes something that performance
was designed to protect. The performance of constant capability shields against the vulnerability of admitting
limits, of needing rest, of not being able to sustain the pace that performance suggests is effortless.
This courage is often underestimated because rest gets culturally coded as passive, as the absence of effortful
action, rather than as something that can require significant bravery to claim openly. But claiming rest honestly, in
front of people who might judge that claim, who might interpret it as weakness or insufficient dedication, requires
a genuine act of courage that deserves recognition as such.
The alternative, continuing to hide exhaustion and depletion behind a maintained performance of capability, might
feel safer in the short term, avoiding the vulnerability of visible rest. But this safety is ultimately illusory, purchased
at the cost of continued depletion that the hidden performance cannot indefinitely sustain.
Where could you use more courage to rest honestly, rather than continuing to hide your actual state behind a
performance that protects against vulnerability but costs you the genuine rest you actually need? Consider what
visible, honest rest might require of you, and whether you are ready to claim that courage.
