Recently, Brené Brown’s new book, Daring Greatly: How the Courage To Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Work,  Parent, and Lead, hit the shelves. I couldn’t wait to read this book, because I’m such a fan of Brené’s work (and of Brené herself).

The book fascinated me for many reasons, and I took notes throughout, but one passage particularly stuck with me — on the phenomenon of “numbing.”

By numbing, Brené means any activity that we use to numb our feelings so that we don’t experience vulnerability. But by numbing ourselves to vulnerability, we also numb ourselves to love, belonging, creativity, and empathy.

I was particularly intrigued by the list of numbing activities. Anything that “takes the edge off” is a numb-inducer. Wine, drugs of all sorts, being “crazy-busy,” fantasy football, sugar, email…the list goes on and on.

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