Be Seen

This past year I had a major career change. 

For context, at 18 years old I decided I wanted to be an Ambassador and work for the government. By the time I turned 21 this had changed, and I decided to go to graduate school for higher education. I picked up, moved to Florida, and was convinced this would be my profession for the rest of my life.

Fast forward from 2014 standing on stage with that Masters of Education at the University of South Florida to 2018. By the end of 2018 I was starting to truly question what I wanted to do, I questioned where did I belong, and I questioned my worth. Did I want to stay in higher education? Did I want to move? Did I want to go abroad and teach English and “find myself”?

Job searching caused me to wake up everyday questioning all of these things. Was I good enough? Was it worth putting myself out there? 

It took courage.

One of my favorite quotes that has guided my life has been from the great author and speaker Brene Brown. 

Brene says, “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” 

Every single day this has been my mantra; my best friend even got me a bracelet with the inscription “Be seen” as a reminder.

We have to let ourselves be seen, and yes it does take the courage to do so.

When we think of courage the first things that come to mind may be the courage to travel alone, skydive, ask that human out, or make a big change. These are all examples of such things, but it starts with letting ourselves be seen; letting our whole messy, complicated, interesting selves being seen.

Finally during the spring of 2019 after applying to over 20 jobs, I found a new career.  A career that had nothing to do with anything I’d ever known. It was scary. It still is scary!

But again, the theme of being seen came back to me. I had to have this courage. 

As someone who struggles with depression and anxiety, letting my truest self be seen is scary. Starting something new was giving me such feelings of imposter syndrome. I started asking myself, did I get here by chance? Will people trust me? Is it okay to ask questions? Am I truly good enough? 

Courage is reminding myself every single day that I am capable, and I am enough. Letting myself be seen is courage in itself. Reminding myself that I am more than depression and anxiety is courage. Asking questions, learning new concepts, and connecting with new humans is courage. Setting boundaries and resting is courage. Sharing my whole self with others is courage. Shoot writing this blog post is courage!

Doing scary things is hard! 

Another concept Brene talks about is leaning into discomfort. We have to do this to grow. It’s the discomfort where we grow and become better humans and that takes courage.

Ask yourself today, how can you let yourself be fully seen? How can you lean into discomfort? I bet you’ll find you’re already doing it.

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Gabbie Rimmaudo is originally from NJ, but has been in Nashville for the past 3.5 years! Full time, she serves as a Community Manager at Industrious Cummins Station. In her free time, Gabbie enjoys working out at getFIT615, running, playing with her pups Harrison and Jake, cooking, and drinking coffee at local Nashville coffee shops.  You can find more at www.gabriellerimmaudo.com