I don’t really follow Dancing with the Stars, but today I saw a clip today of advice from Sherri Shephard, one of the hosts from the television show The View, after her elimination from the competition yesterday:

“That thing that scares you the most, that makes you say, ‘I don’t know if I can do it, I’m scared’? Run towards it, because it’s so amazing on the other side.”

I tried to find video I could link of her saying this because it really gave me goosebumps. What I found was articles on entertainment websites querying readers about whether she “overreacted”, an ABC World News clip with the hosts making fun of her emotional response, and recent rebuttals and explanations from Sherri’s camp. You can find the ABC clip on YouTube pretty easily if you want to see it, but I didn’t want to link it here and give it any more status because I was so disappointed in their treatment of her.

In light of my recent post here on vulnerability, I wanted to bring attention to the attack on Sherri Shepard as a valuable example of how we perceive vulnerability as weakness, and how the societal reaction to a show of courageous vulnerability makes the rest of us so reluctant to risk a show of such courage. Something makes me wish Sherri would have declined to explain herself and the emotionality of that moment and just let it stand for itself.

Brene Brown says in one of her TED talks that vulnerability is the most accurate measure of courage we have. It felt true when I first heard her say it, and I still think she is right. I feel sad for those who are so afraid that they must ridicule and criticize the others who have the courage to be vulnerable, and am grateful to Sherri for saying what she did on national television. There’s great truth in what she said. In nondual spirituality, the path to freedom is said to be through fear. Fear is actually the doorway. We typically run from great fear because it is so uncomfortable, but if we knew what was really on the other side of it, perhaps we’d reconsider and try to walk through instead of beat a hasty retreat.

Namaste.