Vulnerability by Brené Brown TedTalk Reflection

I want to start off by first acknowledging that I really did enjoy this TedTalk by Brené

Brown about vulnerability and shame. I thought it was profoundly interesting while at the same

time, profoundly obvious once it is all laid out in front of you. To me, it only makes sense that

vulnerability is the root of shame and that shame is the inhibiting factor that prevents us from

forming true connections with others. However, seeing her put that into context from a

researcher’s perspective was enlightening and validating. Here is this woman who has devoted

her life to researching these intangible concepts that we have no real way of measuring, and

making them real and relatable. That in and of itself was profound to me and showed me a side

of social work I had not previously considered.

The first thing that struck me about this TedTalk was the quote at the beginning that her

professor had told her while she was in grad school, “If you cannot measure it, it does not exist.”

I both agree and disagree with that statement, especially in the context that she presents it. I

know that she used that quote to preface her talking about her research on intangible emotions

and concepts; that she interprets that quote as “since shame and vulnerability and connection are

things that are fundamental to the human experience and definitely do exist, there must be a way

to measure and quantify that and I am going to devote my life to doing so.” That being said, I

still think that those emotions are immeasurable and that is part of what makes them so unique to

the human experience. Emotion, faith, belief, love, trust, shame, happiness, guilt, connection,

vulnerability: all of these things cannot be measured with an instrument, and while I know that is

not the kind of research that she was performing, it still bothered me in the back of my mind

during the rest of her presentation.

 The only other point she made that really stuck to me, aside from the overarching theme

and message about allowing yourself to be vulnerable and believe you are worthy of love and

connection, was the part where she talks about going to therapy as a way of coping with that

reality. To me, vulnerability is just a part of life. There is no truer way to feel human than to feel

vulnerable. That she had such a hard time grasping that honestly baffled me, especially since she

had devoted her life to social work and researching social work topics. Accepting vulnerability

into her life as the method for which humans can feel loved and accepted made her feel

vulnerable which led her to seek therapy to comprehend it, and that is profound to me. That

might just be because of my specific relationship with therapy in my life, but regardless, I still

found it eye opening to the kind of person that she is: analytical, professional, unwavering,

strong-minded. Knowing that about her gave the TedTalk more dimensions to me, and made it

take on new layers of meaning considering this was something very hard for her to process

which is why she was the one who had to conduct this research and present her findings. If I had

been doing this research, it would not have had such a profound effect on me because she was

essentially researching a concept I already understand at the core of my person. This showed me

different aspects of humanity and way simply beautiful and interesting to me.

Overall, I really enjoyed the TedTalk and I found her to be a wonderful speaker and

researcher storyteller. I hope she continues to do great research in the field of social work and

that she continues to have these mind-blowing, life altering epiphanies about humanity, life,

emotion, and the human experience.