To Connect and Make a Difference, You Have to Get Real … With Yourself

I recently exchanged comments with a wonderful woman I get to see almost every morning on social media about "writing myself whole every day." Writing has really become my salve.I remember when I started my daily writing practice about 23 years ago. I had lost myself. It was as if I had packed myself away in a cardboard box, which I put on the closet shelf to be forgotten.That first day I sat down to write, I stared at the blank page for what seemed like hours, the white noise in my head was so loud I couldn't think. "Just put pen to paper and write, non-stop, for two pages," I remember reading in Julia Cameron's Artists Way. "It doesn't have to be good, or legible, or make sense, you just have to get it down."Related: Is There a Price We Pay for Snarkiness? Related: How to Set Yourself Up for Success And so I wrote. And wrote. And wrote. I took myself out of the box, dusted myself off, and wrote myself whole. Eventually I shifted my writing from focusing on me, to focusing on you—writing to make an impact.What I've found is that the difference is almost indiscernible. For it is only through getting real with myself, that I have an opportunity to get real with you. To truly connect. To connect and make a difference, you have to get real. First with yourself. It is the first critical step on your path to # brave .