Ruth Rathblott creates spaces for people to be seen. She works with organizations that want to build more inclusive work environments so that they can break down the walls of miscommunication and produce more cohesive teams and higher-performing employees. Learn more at www.RuthRathblott.com.
Hiding is how many of us learned to survive. Unhiding is how we learn to thrive without doing it all alone. Recently, a friend told me about the anxiety they felt around hosting people for the holidays. Not panic. Not drama. Just the constant mental math. Is it enough? Is it too much? Will…
A Moment You Might Recognize Last month, I sat in a meeting and felt that little push. You know the one. You feel the nudge. You know you should speak. And then you don’t. That old voice showed up for me. What if it sounds stupid? What if I am wrong? What if they judge…
Have you ever told someone something real, something you thought was safe, and then watched them share it, twist it, or use it against you? It stings. It makes you want to crawl back into hiding. And it makes you wonder if it’s safer not to share at all. This question has been coming up…
This summer, I started painting—with the hand I hid for 25 years. Because sometimes the things we’ve hidden the longest have the most to teach us. Facing the Doubts Truth? I wasn’t sure what would happen. Maybe something beautiful, maybe something that looked like a preschool finger-painting. (Spoiler: some of it did.) And underneath it…
Lately, I’ve been noticing hiding everywhere, at a dinner with TIME, splashed across a full-page ad in The New York Times, and in a candid conversation on Mel Robbins’ podcast. You’ve been spotting it too, sending me articles, podcasts, and movie scenes (keep them coming). Hiding—and unhiding—are everywhere. Once you start noticing it, you can’t…
I remember sitting in meetings early in my career, working so hard to keep parts of myself hidden. I thought it would keep me safe. But by the end of the day, I was completely drained. Recently, after listening to my brilliant speaker friend Cait Donovan talk about burnout and the brain, I started wondering:…