The power of vulnerability.
How allowing yourself to be vulnerable in your daily life will help you connect with the truest version of yourself and empower those around you.
Removing the routine and deliberately creating a space where you welcome the unexpected warrants change and personal growth.
Its pristine white body lay in perfect contrast to the dark brown island beneath it. Its open wings suggested a sense of safety, of familiarity.
It had been five days since I last showered. Five days since I last had any distance between me and the twelve strangers with whom I had embarked on this expedition. Five days since I slept on anything other than a thin sheet of fabric draped across rows of oars, waking up each morning with a new bruise, absent the night before.
I stared beneath me at the little piece of heaven, captivated by all its effortless beauty. Never had I appreciated a bar of Dove soap more than in that moment.
In Naples, Florida, perfection wore a mask. You were childish to find beauty in anything less than a Louis Vuitton purse and naive if you thought money truly couldn't buy you happiness.
But in that moment, on the island, after five days of showerless sailing, that bar of Dove soap might as well have been a brick of gold.
As I stood in the water washing my face for the first time in almost a week, basking in all the sudsy glory, I began to wonder why I, a girl used to perfection, routine, and predictability was not miserable on such a daring excursion. Nothing about my trip was routine. I would wake up each morning unaware of what that day held. I was at the mercy of twelve strangers in the middle of the unpredictable ocean. The only means of a restroom were a small yellow bucket, situated on the bow of the boat. My hair was matted and oily and my clothes soaked from the rainstorm that hit on only the second night of the trip.Yet, in the midst of all of this, I felt genuinely happy.
But why?
This question of “why” lingered with me for the duration of my trip, and I slowly began to realize that even though the physical aspects of the trip where demanding and not necessarily favorable, the intangible facets earned were more than rewarding. I developed a true sense of vulnerability and an understanding of who, at my core, I really was. I was stripped of all the things I once believed gave me value and left with only what was real. I was forced to be uncomfortable and discover the truest version of myself in front of complete strangers.
Upon returning home, and as I began to shift back into my daily life, the answer to my question grew seemingly more apparent. My perspective had shifted and I began to see things that were absent before. There was simplicity in the mundane, complexity in chaos; I saw beauty in things I once believed to be of no value. The experience didn't just change my perspective in the moment, but guided the way I approach the unfamiliar situations in my day-to-day life. I no longer clung to the safety of routine but rather welcomed the presence of change.
Holding the soap in my hand I was not concerned about what I did not have. What I experienced then was pure unadulterated happiness, and not only had I found a bar of Dove soap, I also found myself.