Take 1… 5:11 pm Take 2… 6:03 am **Int. Home - day** P sits on the couch with the computer on her lap. A floor covered in toys as the kids excitedly play amongst themselves. --- As we continue to wrap up Christmas and move on from the holiday festivities and back into regular everyday life, I figured it's time that I'd return to my computer. Honestly, I've stepped up to the computer a few times, but can't seem to land on one topic that feels right for me to talk about right now, and it led me here. Topics that had sounded like a good idea in my head once upon a time (a week ago), to now feeling like I can't think of the right things to say about them. Posing the question of what am I looking for in my post, to be vulnerable with my readers, or to gain validation from readers. Well, I guess the answer is both. If I had to choose one, I'd say vulnerability. Vulnerability is open and most times authentic, to show a part of your truest self and welcome other people into it. But choosing how much vulnerability I want to show can be a slippery slope. Being vulnerable, whether in person, through film, or through writing can be difficult, and is something that I still struggle with when sharing my work. "This is going to paint an entirely different picture of me than who these people know me to be or think I am." Then it's a question of do I want to stick with the image of someone else's idea of me, or to expand their knowledge of my authentic self. Validity and vulnerability takes place in so many different parts of our lives and often are a basis of how we make decisions. Do we choose what we want and think it appropriate for ourselves or do we take the thought of others into account first and choose their values instead of something we feel deeply and truly align with. In my eyes, vulnerability takes up space and fills a void allowing you to let things off your chest, while waiting for the approval and praise of others will be something that may never come. Validity wavers from person to person, changing with every submission, every thought, every social post. Instead of going with the crowd and what fits their scope of what's right, choose what is truest and most authentic to you. Signing off for now crew, cheers to the new year.