Learning to Be True to Yourself: Thoughts on Brené Brown's "Do Not Negotiate Who You Are"

Brené Brown's video "Do Not Negotiate Who You Are" shares a very important message: be yourself no matter what. This message came to me at a really tough time as I'm going through a hard divorce.

Divorce is really tough, especially when kids are involved. Just the other day at my son's baseball game, something happened that made me think a lot about this. I've always been there for him, never missing a game. But this time, he asked me to leave because he didn't want me walking around. At first, I felt really mad and thought I’d never go to his games again. But then I realized he must be feeling really sad and confused because of the divorce.

This made me think about Brené Brown's video. She talks about how important it is to stay true to yourself. During my marriage, I sometimes tried to be less of myself to make things smoother. But that didn’t work out well, and it made me unhappy.

Brené Brown uses a quote from Maya Angelou that says being free means belonging nowhere and everywhere at the same time. This means you don't have to change who you are to fit in anywhere.

Brown also talks about something called "Braving," which is a way to remember how to trust yourself and others. It stands for boundaries, reliability, accountability, vault (keeping secrets), integrity, non-judgment, and generosity. These are all things that help us be good to ourselves and others.

From watching the video and thinking about everything, I learned that I shouldn’t change who I am for anyone else. It’s better to be yourself, and that’s what I’m trying to do, even though it’s hard sometimes.

If you ever feel like you need to change to make others happy, remember it’s more important to be yourself. That’s what makes you special and strong, just like Brené Brown says.