Last Saturday I quoted Brene Brown in my post Splat! “What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude” 

Today is a good day for these words. I am quoting her again. Embrace The Suck.

This past June I was on one of my company’s job sites and I was working with a man who worked for a company we were subcontracting to do a job for us. His job was to operate a Vac Truck. For those of you who do not know what a Vac truck is, it is a truck that is a giant vacuum cleaner and is used to suck liquid and solid literal crap from void spaces. 

The man I was working with had a sticker on his hard hat that said Embrace The Suck. I absolutely had to have a picture of the sticker. Not only did I find the sticker funny and applicable to the job we were on, I knew I was going to need those words again. After I got my picture of the sticker, I asked the guy where he got it. I figured his company came up with a unique slogan or he got it at a conference of some sort. The man’s Answer?  A TED talk. We rolled on with our work not giving it another thought.

I really liked this sticker and I wanted one. As the man worked, I kept thinking about the words, Embrace The Suck and what that really means. As I was reviewing the picture I took of the sticker, it was crooked, and I did not like the picture. So, I asked the guy if I could get another picture. Of course, he said yes, and we talked about its origin some more. The funny thing? The guy worked for a Vac truck company and didn’t realize the connection his sticker had with his job. I was like “Wait, what?” How could you be so disconnected?

Brene Brown is an Academic Researcher.  Her focus is on Sociology and she uses her research to teach people through writing books and speaking.  Leadership through encouragement is a progressive area of her hub. To say the least, I like her work that I have encountered. It’s up my alley.

When you think about the words Embrace The Suck, what comes to mind? For me A vac truck comes to mind due to my circumstances in the discovery phase. I do however, think of all the suck in my life that I have had to overcome.

No. I did not embrace it for a very long time. Instead, I fought it. I consider myself a fighter. I will go to bat and fight addiction and bipolar to the death. I am strong! I will do this! I got this! Somehow, this concept to fight seemed like the right approach at the time. Little did I know, that approach was all wrong.

Embrace The Suck

There seems to be 3 key areas we need to overcome in order to Embrace The Suck.

1. The fist key to Embracing The Suck that I can recall was acceptance. First, I had to accept my suck. Fighting is one way to not accept. Surrender is pathway to acceptance. Understanding that the mess you are in is the mess you are in. “It is what it is” they say…  

• Identifying Shame – Shame is our experiences that keep us in fear. The way we dealt with our shame in addiction was pure insanity. Somehow, we came up with the idea that shame can be eliminated by doing more shameful things. Everyone has their methods of dealing with shame. It looks like numbing. For some it looks normal and they have a sense of love and belonging. For others like myself it did not look normal and I had no sense of feeling worthy of feeling loved. 

• The next thing I can recall is the requirement to be connected. Not connected to an outlet of garbage that looked like sex addiction. Connection with people. Connection gives us purpose. It is the basis of living. My first sponsor in my 12 step group for sex addiction recovery told me, “You are not going to learn to love yourself, until you learn to love the people in the rooms.” Well now, do you know I was hanging out with a bunch of sex addicted perverts? Did you know, I was nothing like them? I could go on… The reality was, I may not have done the exact same things they did, and my circumstances were not the same as theirs, but our stories were the same. We did shameful things that spun us out of control that got us a seat in the same room together. 

The answer to Embracing The Suck is Vulnerability. Being honest is another way to put it. This is our approach in the 12 step rooms. Honesty creates vulnerability. Vulnerability creates a new belief system. It allows us to be authentic and true to ourselves. In the end, the ability to accept and give love is the result of being vulnerable. BOOM!

Who do we know who does this? Uh, how about GOD!   

My God loves me, and he wants me to Love him back! Think about this for a bit. God is willing to be vulnerable with us and share his Love. I go back to one of my favorites versus in the scripture of Luke.

Luke 15

New International Version

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. ² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

How many times does our God leave the flock to come find us? How many times do we leave Him in search of something else?

Sometimes things just Suck and we need to find a way back to Him.

Yes, read it twice.

Embrace The Suck

Last Saturday I quoted Brene Brown in my post Splat! “What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude” 

Today I am quoting her again. Embrace The Suck.

This past June I was on one of my company’s job sites and I was working with a man who worked for a company we were subcontracting to do a job for us. His job was to operate a Vac Truck. For those of you who do not know what a Vac truck is, it is a truck that is a giant vacuum cleaner and is used to suck liquid and solid literal crap from void spaces. 

The man I was working with had a sticker on his hard hat that said Embrace The Suck. I absolutely had to have a picture of the sticker. Not only did I find the sticker funny and applicable to the job we were on, I knew I was going to need those words again. After I got my picture of the sticker, I asked the guy where he got it. I figured his company came up with a unique slogan or he got it at a conference of some sort. The man’s Answer?  A TED talk. We rolled on with our work not giving it another thought.

I really liked this sticker and I wanted one. As the man worked, I kept thining about the words, Embrace The Suck and what that really means. As I was reviewing the picture I took of the sticker, it was crooked, and I did not like the picture. So, I asked the guy if I could get another picture. Of course, he said yes, and we talked about its origin some more. The funny thing? The guy worked for a Vac truck company and didn’t realize the connection his sticker had with his job. I was like “Wait, what?” How could you be so disconnected?

Brene Brown is an Academic Researcher.  Her focus is on Sociology and she uses her research to teach people through writing books and speaking.  Leadership through encouragement is a progressive area of her hub. To say the least, I like her work that I have encountered. It’s up my alley.

When you think about the words Embrace The Suck, what comes to mind? For me A vac truck comes to mind due to my circumstances in the discovery phase. I do however, think of all the suck in my life that I have had to overcome.

No. I did not embrace it for a very long time. Instead, I fought it. I consider myself a fighter. I will go to bat and fight addiction and bipolar to the death. I am strong! I will do this! I got this! Somehow, this concept to fight seemed like the right approach at the time. Little did I know, that approach was all wrong.

Embrace The Suck

There seems to be 3 key areas we need to overcome in order to Embrace The Suck.

1. The fist key to Embracing The Suck that I can recall was acceptance. First, I had to accept my suck. Fighting is one way to not accept. Surrender is pathway to acceptance. Understanding that the mess you are in is the mess you are in. “It is what it is” they say…  

• Identifying Shame – Shame is our experiences that keep us in fear. The way we dealt with our shame in addiction was pure insanity. Somehow, we came up with the idea that shame can be eliminated by doing more shameful things. Everyone has their methods of dealing with shame. It looks like numbing. For some it looks normal and they have a sense of love and belonging. For others like myself it did not look normal and I had no sense of feeling worthy of feeling loved. 

• The next thing I can recall is the requirement to be connected. Not connected to an outlet of garbage that looked like sex addiction. Connection with people. Connection gives us purpose. It is the basis of living. My first sponsor in my 12 step group for sex addiction recovery told me, “You are not going to learn to love yourself, until you learn to love the people in the rooms.” Well now, do you know I was hanging out with a bunch of sex addicted perverts? Did you know, I was nothing like them? I could go on… The reality was, I may not have done the exact same things they did, and my circumstances were not the same as theirs, but our stories were the same. We did shameful things that spun us out of control that got us a seat in the same room together. 

The answer to Embracing The Suck is Vulnerability. Being honest is another way to put it. This is our approach in the 12 step rooms. Honesty creates vulnerability. Vulnerability creates a new belief system. It allows us to be authentic and true to ourselves. In the end, the ability to accept and give love is the result of being vulnerable. BOOM!

Who do we know who does this? Uh, how about GOD!   

My God loves me, and he wants me to Love him back! Think about this for a bit. God is willing to be vulnerable with us and share his Love. I go back to one of my favorites versus in the scripture of Luke.

Luke 15

New International Version

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. ² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

How many times does our God leave the flock to come find us? How many times do we leave Him in search of something else?

Sometimes things just Suck and we need to find a way back to Him.

Embrace The Suck