My best friend, Maryanne, defines it as “putting yourself out there without the worry of failing.”  I tend to agree with Maryanne, which explains why she’s my best friend.  She gets to see my acts of vulnerability in action quite frequently and supports them, which is really important to me. These “acts” can be as simple as my ability to strike up a conversation with anyone to taking a huge leap of faith by changing fields during the prime of my professional career.

What you may not know is that both Maryanne and my husband, two of my favorite people, are not willing to be vulnerable.  In fact, they avoid it whenever possible.  They are very analytical people who analyze and calculate the risk for every situation.  While it’s important to think before you act, just the thought of such analytical detail sucks the fun out of it right now for me and fills me with doubt.  For example, they’ll literally think of every possible scenario and outcome as they decide whether or not to skydive; meanwhile, I’m waving goodbye as I’m jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

I share this with you because without them, without their support, I don’t believe I would be able to be as vulnerable as I am…actually, I know I wouldn’t. They are my strength; they are my calculations of risk.  At the end of the day, I know they are going to be there to love and support me no matter what happens, which allows me to be more courageous and take risks with the hopes of experiencing something new and exciting.  They are what’s truly important in life.

Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.  Take my recent shift in career fields where I went from 10 years of marketing experience to being a greenhorn in the field of learning and development.  Talk about a completely different world!