“Don’t walk through the world looking for evidence that you don’t belong,
Brene Brown
because you will always find it.
Don’t walk through the world looking for evidence that you’re not enough,
because you’ll always find it.”
Celebrated researcher Brene Brown, who’s “spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy”, shares on the Marie Forleo podcast how important it’s been for her to stop looking for evidence she doesn’t belong.
“Our worth and our belonging are not negotiated with other people,” she says.
“I know who I am, I’m clear about that, and I’m not going to negotiate that with you.
BRENE BROWN
I will negotiate a contract with you.
I will negotiate maybe even a topic with you.
But I’m not going to negotiate who I am with you, because then… I may fit in for you, but I no longer belong to myself, and that is a betrayal I am not willing to do any more.”
After decades of self-betrayal, Brene stopped searching for a reason not to belong and it “changed me,” she says, writing about the subject in her book: Brave the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone.
Whether you started negotiating your worth with others three months or thirty years ago, you too can learn to stand strong alone.
