Braving the Wilderness

The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone
by Brené Brown | Random House © 2017 · 208 pages

Brené Brown is one of the world’s most beloved teachers. We’ve covered two of her other #1 NY Times bestselling books: Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection. This book is all about helping us navigate our quests for true belonging—that sense of connection to yourself and to others that’s authentic, vulnerable, and courageous. First step: We need to know that it requires a trip into the hero’s forest of the unknown. Which demands “braving the wilderness.” Big Ideas we explore include deepening our understanding of that quest to true belonging, embracing paradox, the 4 practices of true belonging, how to deal with life’s challenges, and writing yourself a permission slip to be YOU.


Do not think you can be brave with your life and your work and never disappoint anyone. It doesn’t work that way.
Oprah Winfrey

True belonging.

I don’t know exactly what it is about the combination of those two words, but I do know that when I say it aloud, it just feels right. It feels like something that we all crave and need in our lives. We want to be a part of something, but we need it to be real—not conditional or fake or constantly up for negotiation. We need true belonging.”

~ Brené Brown from Braving the Wilderness

True belonging.

That sense of connection to yourself and to others that’s authentic, vulnerable, and courageous. Helping us navigate our quests for true belonging is what the book is all about. First step: We need to know that requires a trip into the hero’s forest of the unknown. Which demands “braving the wilderness.”

Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston. She’s spent the last 15+ years studying courage, vulnerability, shame and empathy and is the author of three #1 NY Times bestsellers: The Gifts of Imperfection, Rising Strong and Daring Greatly. (We currently have Notes on two of those… Need to get to Rising Strong! :)

My hunch is you’ve probably heard of and/or watched her TED Talk on “The Power of Vulnerability”—which is one of the top 5 most-viewed TED talks ever, with 30 million views.

I think the reason why Brené is so popular and such a powerful teacher is that she’s such a powerful EXEMPLAR of the very things she studies and teaches: courageous, vulnerable, whole-hearted living.

And, she’s a great storyteller.

I loved this book as much as I did the others. It’s a quick-reading, inspiring look at the four practices for discovering and living from that deep sense of true belonging. If you enjoy Brené and her work, I think you’ll enjoy the book as much as I did. (Get a copy here.)

I’m excited to take a quick look at some of my favorite Big Ideas so let’s jump straight in!

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About the author

Authors

Brené Brown

Researcher. Storyteller. Texan.