Embracing Imperfection: The Solitary Journey of Leadership

“I cannot share this with my spouse or my team. I feel terribly lonely at times.”

Feel this anguish? You are not alone.

Leaders experience loneliness, not because of not being able to share things with people around them…. but because they don’t admit all parts of themselves.

“Leaders should be flawless.”

“Leaders should have all the answers.”

These beliefs make us disown & push away anything that is deemed unacceptable.

If you believe that you are flawless, how can you allow yourself to feel anxious, or uncertain, or be anything less than 100 percent energetic all the time….?

And human beings are, like everything in nature, not perfect.

It's okay to feel anxious or worried.

It's okay to be uncertain about decisions.

It's okay to be weak, imperfect and to break down.

By accepting that you are not a flawless being, you can embrace your “unacceptable” feelings, and tend to it with softness and empathy.

In Rumi’s words - “These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.”

Allow yourself to feel the difficult and painful feelings, because like everything else in life, these too are transient.

Leadership is a process…. a solitary process, because everyone’s path to becoming a leader is different. But it doesn't have to be lonely, if we can be a compassionate witness to the parts of ourselves that we believe are flawed.

Something that I struggle with, is my impatience. I have been ashamed of my impatience and always looked to control it or hide it.

From this moment on, I promise to embrace my impatience and tell myself - it is ok to be impatient, because impatient Shweta is a response to overwhelmed Shweta.

What is the flawed part that you will embrace today?