How Daring are You in your Life, Pregnancy or as a New mother?

Pregnancy is a time when you can definitely feel vulnerable rather than daring. Certainly for first time mothers you are stepping into the unknown. Your body changes and your perception of yourself can too.

If you have been working in your career for a number of years and have most of your days under control, the first few weeks with a new baby will generally turn that on its head.

Last week as part of Lisa Barnwell presents Bumps and the Boardroom I shared different books that have inspired me to look further into the real value of the pregnancy mind and speak up about my findings and beliefs.

Brené Brown’s best-seller Daring Greatly:How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead is right up there for me as a truly great read and I love the DARING WAY | SHOW UP | BE SEEN | LIVE BRAVE ™ based on Brené’s research. Her words really jumped off the page and spoke to me at a time when I was basically bed bound and house bound and my core confidence had been seriously shaken.

Her TEDx Houston talk on the power of vulnerability is one of the most watched talks on TED.com, with over 15 million views. She gave the closing talk, Listening to Shame, at the 2012 TED Conference in Long Beach. I highly recommend a watch.

It’s perhaps not very “British” to be so emotionally open but as we embrace more of our whole selves in our every day lives it become easier and simpler to be. Many women have said to me that once they become mothers their need to be or present a certain way becomes less important or manageable and they find the courage to be braver, to be more daring. Letting go of “perfect” is the first step.

I started my first online event last week by reading The Daring Greatly Leadership Manifesto and wanted to share that with you and highly recommend adding this great read to your Mummy Mindfulness collection.

For me stepping out of my comfort zone and sharing my thoughts and beliefs OUT LOUD was a big bold leap into the unknown but the excitement, the relief of just sharing my ideals felt really liberating!

Since I restyled my website with the opening post “I Love Me” I have focused on using my blog posts as a way of expressing and hopefully inspiring mothers and mothers-to-be to look at their pregnancy and journey to motherhood in a new light. Vulnerability can come quite naturally in pregnancy and I am passionate about connecting with businesses to show them how valuable this trait and others that mums-to-be have access to, can be.

I love Brené for opening my mind up to the greater concept of vulnerability and hope my blogs are taken as honest and open alternatives to the norm.

You may not have thought that in becoming a parent you are also becoming a leader but essentially you are. By opening up to your emotions you are leading the way for others to be more authentic but you are. Most parents aim to lead by example and I’d say connecting with Brené will give you a real head start.

Love to hear your thoughts.