Summary

Brown believes that "love and belonging are central to human experience" and that a belief in one's worthiness is essential in fully experiencing those feelings (23). We have to believe we are worthy of love and belonging in order to experience them. Brown acknowledges that a big challenge for many people is in believing they are worthy in the current moment, as opposed to if/when they accomplish some goal or life achievement. She argues that we are all worthy of love and belonging right now, as we are. Brown defines love as grounded in vulnerability and argues that belonging and fitting in are not the same. Fitting in is about becoming who you need to be in order to be accepted, while belonging "doesn't require us to change who we are; it requires us to be...