I am participating in the 31 Days of Free Writes October challenge. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation.
Credit: Pinterest
Today’s prompt: Brave
When I saw this article about Amy Cuddy early yesterday morning, it caught my eye.
Although the title made it clear that there had been some type of shift in her life, this is what came to mind upon seeing her name:
- beautiful
- intelligent
- gave a TED talk (the 2nd most watched one ever)
- power poses
- NY Times best seller
- has it all together/has achieved things I want to do
Apparently, things have changed over the past year or two for Amy Cuddy.
In short, the research that brought her so much notoriety, in essence research that says “if you physically manifest power (as in doing a power pose in the wings before giving a speech), it will lend you confidence and help you perform better,” was intensely questioned by her peers in a very public way.
When I was searching for this article last night, my email brought up David Burkus’ email series from a year or two ago. Amy Cuddy had written the “New Year’s message.” It was full of what we can do, positivity and optimism.
I had to look up her Twitter handle to help publicize the Burkus series in my freelance capacity at the time. I put her on a pedestal (for all the bulleted reasons above).
That was then.
Now she is writing a book called, “Bullies, Bystanders, and Bravehearts.” I am reminded that bravery exists most when we are standing in the wings of our own life, away from the lit stage, looking at ourselves in the mirror and finding the strength to be our best selves.
Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.
There is nothing more pure and raw as standing in front of a mirror stripped down and being able to be brave enough to love who you truly are.
So true. It’s easy to lose sight of that in such a promotion-obsessed world.
I don’t pay much attention to TED talks, and I had never heard of Ms. Cuddy. At lunch today, I read the New York Times article. I do not understand why people bully someone who stands out in their field. Outrageous! It doesn’t increase my faith in humanity. My Dad suffered a TBI before I was born, which left him suffering for the rest of his life with seizures. Knowing she overcame the effects of a TBI was enough for me to put her on a pedestal. I can only hope that good comes out of her suffering and that her book becomes a best seller.
I didn’t know about the TBI until I read the article. I have to in full honestly say I didn’t make it through the WHOLE article but I got the point. Academia is so challenging in so many ways — this seemed especially difficult. I sent you a FB message with the TED Talk. Thanks for commenting.