“Is there anything I could ever do that would make you not love me?” Lewis Howes says to his best friend.
This was Lewis’s way of prefacing what felt like an impossible conversation: telling his closest family and friends that he had been raped by a man when he was a child.
And once he opened up to the people closest to him, he realized that not only did they embrace his vulnerability, but that his story was actually powerful for the people who heard it.
After a bit of encouragement from his best friend, he decided to share with the listeners of his podcast. That eventually led him to share with the audience at World Domination Summit 2015, where I heard the story for the first time.
In the past, he took pride in dating women, making money, and being an athlete. He is one of those people you imagine to lack any kind of vulnerability… and he designed his image that way.
But there he was, sharing the most vulnerable information he had to share in front of 3,000 people under the moniker of The Myth of Masculinity.
For someone who could relate to so much of his story about trying to appear perfect in the eyes of others, it was a remarkable show of what it really means to be a man.
Wow. @LewisHowes just delivered one of the most powerful and resonant talks I have ever heard in person. Thank you, Lewis. #WDS2015
— Barrett Brooks (@BarrettABrooks) July 12, 2015
Sharing your story could be equally powerful… for both you and others. It takes courage, but the act of sharing might be the greatest gift you could give to someone who needs to hear it.
Thank you to Lewis Howes for the inspiration for today’s post.