The Place I Come From When I talk about “Grit & Grace”

I can’t go on that stage and talk about authenticity and courage when I don’t feel authentic or brave. I just physically cannot do it. I’m not here so my business self can talk to their business selves. I’m here to talk from my heart to their hearts. This is who I am. – Brene Brown

Parents, Brene Brown’s wise words can be used to describe the place I come from – the source of my authenticity and courage in offering learning advice – a place where I talk from my heart to your heart.

Let me explain: my heart thinks as an educator and as a parent. I can have all the theories and research in the world and fall flat on my face when applying the logic to my own kids’ lives. I am learning, I am growing, I am failing forward. Just like you. I come from a place where I get to think about your kids the way YOU think about your kids. And since I’m great (for better or for worse) at putting myself in another person’s shoes, I can walk with you through the good, the bad, and the ugly. And the neat thing is, I’ve done or felt most of it before too.

If you OWN the story, you can write the ending. – Brene Brown

I have spent so much of my life trying to do things perfectly the first time. Of putting pressure on myself to emerge as the whole picture without first putting together the parts. To rise above everyone’s expectations (or what I thought were everyone’s expectations) to meet my own. And the fact that no matter how hard I try, I can’t emerge as the perfect parent has been perhaps my biggest hardship – and the most freeing event of my life.

Quitting the perfectionism addiction has helped me see how I can use my own story to help my kids learn sooner than I did how to develop more integrated, joyful lives. To match what’s on the inside and what’s on the outside. I’ve been putting the broken things back together over the years, standing up when they’ve fallen apart, and risking this for my children – so that they know how to do the same.

So I’ve found grace. And now the grit.

Grit is passion and perseverance. Who is better to get really GRITTY than parents? I would suggest that we, as a general population, have been endowed with a couple of very specific aces in our hands. Because we’ve GOT the passion. And sometimes, ALL WE’VE GOT is perseverance.

We have to get up and try again. We have to put our feet on the ground every day and talk to those younger people like we know what we’re talking about. Our kids ARE our biggest WHYs for getting this stuff right, and I invite you to join me in the struggle of Grit & Grace.

Good news! We have a Grit & Grace 5-Part, On-Demand Video Series. Get free access today and start your journey in the Brave and Authentic Art of Mothering Well.