6 brave shifts for showing up authentically online
from private to public and posting with PURPOSE!
Stepping outside your comfort zone doesn’t just reshape your life—it reshapes the lives of those watching you do it.
In this honest reflection, Dr. Bronce and I share what it looks like to step into visibility: the anxiety, the impostor syndrome, and the deep inner shifts that come with showing up authentically online.
You’ll hear how we’ve navigated fear, embraced imperfection, and stayed grounded in purpose—even when we weren’t sure we were ready.
If you’ve been waiting for the “right” moment to be seen, speak up, or start sharing your truth—this is it.
There is no perfect moment other than now.
In this month’s Mindful Moments, we’re diving into June’s motto: Stepping Boldly Outside Your Comfort Zone.
Today’s spotlight shines on
, a powerhouse of insight who’s bravely navigating the online world for the first time.Today, we are sharing real stories of courage, vulnerability, and authenticity in action about showing up ONLINE.
We dive into being fully seen in all your vulnerability, and why imperfection is the new power move.
This is not about perfect posts or polished personas; this is about real growth, truth, trust, and the electric freedom that comes when you live (and show up) from your heart.
When you become a paid subscriber, you get midweek empowering collaboration pieces with some of the most inspirational voices I have found on here.
You pay attention to what you pay for:
And it is now time you deserve to know how to really grow and flow:
Whether you’re already showing up online or still watching from the sidelines—this is your nudge: step in, not perfectly, but presently.
Let this be your permission slip to share, grow, and shine beyond fear.
Here are past collabs from this month already packed full of wisdom:
6 subtle things to give you instant confidence to step outside your comfort zone
Ever feel like stepping outside your comfort zone is like leaping into the unknown without a parachute?
Your Journey to Freedom Begins Outside Your Comfort Zone
Your ability to replay various scenes in your head is taking up too much time and energy, holding you back from living your dreams.
Today’s spotlight is on the one and only Dr. Bronce!
I have loved getting to know him here and sharing this space to raise awareness about mental health and a more fulfilling life that YOU deserve.
I’m a psychoanalyst, psychologist, and health & wellness coach dedicated to helping people not only bring their wellbeing into existence, but also understand who they are beneath the surface of everyday life—and what gets in the way of living in alignment with their deeper preferences.
Through one-on-one conversations, I work with individuals to explore what makes them tick, how early experiences have shaped their lives, and why they live the way they do.
My passion is helping people uncover their own unique “equations of living,” so they can lead more authentic, fulfilling lives—beyond the limits of one-size-fits-all wellness advice.
Bronce has only recently landed in the online space (like a rocket raising our vibrations!)
I am amazed by his courage and confidence.
We went live together for his second live appearance online, and it was a splendid conversation about the multilayers of Mental Health. Check it out here.
We both hold a higher energy to show up and remind others of their power and authenticity.
This is my first real appearance online, and stepping into this space has pushed me outside my comfort zone in more ways than I expected.
Here are three ways I’ve been stretching myself:
1. Being FULLY seen
Showing up publicly with my voice:
For decades, my work has been carried out behind closed doors, in a consulting room, in private one-on-one conversations in my office or through research at Yale, where I wouldn’t generally interact with many people throughout my day.
At first, sharing my thoughts in public, on platforms like Substack and LinkedIn, felt unnerving and something I had purposefully avoided for years.
The anxiety wasn’t merely about visibility per se but more about being fully seen in a space where tone, nuance, intention and depth don’t always translate easily.
2. Being CONSISTENT is key
Learning to show up and be consistent—even when I’m unsure of what I’m doing has been one of the biggest challenges for me.
Online rhythms feel so different from clinical rhythms.
The pressure to be consistently present, engaging and visible often stirs up anxiety on my end, especially when I start to question whether what I’m offering is “enough,” “relevant,” or meaningfully connected to others and the lives that they’re living.
Imposter syndrome has also crept in in ways I haven’t experienced in years.
After more than two decades of clinical training and practice, I’ve still found myself thinking: Who am I to speak up in a space already filled with so many voices?
It’s been a surreal experience. That old inner dialogue—Am I good enough? Smart enough? Will people like me?—has resurfaced in unexpected ways that I honestly don’t prefer.
I don’t particularly enjoy this discomfort.
But I keep returning to what I know from the therapy room:
That real connection takes time, and it’s built through honesty, authenticity, and the willingness to show up as I am, worries and all.
3. Being IMPERFECT
Releasing the need to get every word right:
In my offline world, I’ve had time to sit with ideas, research what I’m interested in, refine them along the way and hold space for ambiguity.
Online, I’ve had to learn to let go of things more quickly—to post a reflection even if it’s not fully formed in my mind or fully pristine, to join in a conversation even if I haven’t planned my every word.
That’s been surprisingly freeing and yet uncomfortable simultaneously.
All of this has made me more empathetic to what so many people experience in their own lives: the fear of exposure and what others will think of them, and the courage it takes to keep showing up anyway.
Unlike Bronce, I have been online since 2020 officially.
I started on Instagram and Medium around the same time, wanting to make something of myself, but always with the pure intention to help people raise their life and love vibration!
Do I have anxiety? Nah. Not one bit.
Did I back then? Sure, a bit.
(Not to say it is bad on Bronce’s behalf… rather, it is normal when you are new to something to have a slight fear or anxious disbelief poking you.)
Bronce’s words sank deep into my soul, reminding me how I have always shown up online with no space whatsoever for anxiety because I know my superpower is authenticity.
That is the key, my sunshine seekers: if you are new to opening up online or have been doing it for a while, here is your reminder to dissipate any second-guessing or questioning:
When you show up as you are with pure intentions from your heart, then why do you need to worry?
There is no need. Basta. Your message will arrive in people’s hearts and minds with light and love if you write from your heart.
I say this with conviction because it is true, and time and time again, I am reminded by friends and strangers alike that what I share on my Instagram stories or in my newsletter INSPIRES.
This just shows: a note from someone in my class at school during my kindergarten studies. No idea who wrote it, but it showed me: my light shines to so many souls that I don’t even know!
So here are my 3 tricks to show up online out of your comfort zone but into your comfort zone because you are grounded in authenticity, love, and gratitude.
1. IDGAF!
Like seriously, dont give a f*ck about what others think.
This really is the golden rule to start you off. Firstly, ask yourself, WHY do you even care about what others think?
The moment you lose this motion, it won't control any emotion….
Luckily, I never cared about what other people thought, so I was able to show up as I am and soon noticed that vulnerability is my superpower.
When finally self-publishing my self-help book from the mental clinic (yes, it was a really spur of the moment bored out of my mind and what better way to show others that I am also only human and had a breakdown) that I had written at 21 when my best friend passed, but was on the backburner for years due to IMPOSTER SYNDROME.
Sure, I also experienced it. Who doesn't? We are only human!
The thing is not to STAY there. Being stuck in your comfort zone will never allow you to MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.
2. Be true to you
With the above statement comes the fact that you are being YOURSELF.
If not, then sure, you will doubt, fear, and start to compare… Do not despair. You have a light within you that is ready to shine. It is up to YOU to light it with creativity, self-expression, and love.
These three factors are my foundation in writing successfully from my heart. I have been a writer since I can remember…
I studied Journalism, and it taught me how my voice is unique.
Yours is too. Whatever you are sharing or writing online, know somebody is being inspired by you and who you strive to be.
I think this is the hardest part for people… As a well-being coach, I have had many clients of all ages express to me that they dont know who they are…
Oh my dear, but you do.
You just gotta drown out the noise from outside and listen within.
3. Be calm and convinced of your power
Your comfort zone will convince you that you are safer there.
Guess what? You aren’t.
Sure, you may be safer in the sense of just going on with life and not changing anything. But that is boring.
We are human beings and thrive off change. Without change, you don’t grow.
The biggest recent change we all know was the coronavirus. What a shift, right?! But I bet you learnt something, if not, a lot from it?
Maybe you lost someone to Corona, or you lost and refound yourself.
Either way, we all went through it and noticed how NOBODY HAS ANY CONTROL OVER ANYTHING!
We don’t know what will happen today or tomorrow, so why are you waiting for the perfect moment?
Sorry to break it to you, but there is never a perfect moment. It doesn't exist.
All you have is now. Embrace it.
Show up as you are, and the rest will take care of itself.
The steps you take to shut your anxiety up, the quieter it gets.
With gratitude
Grace and Bronce
Thank you, Grace, for creating this space and for inviting me into such an important dialogue about what it really takes to show up online, not just visibly, but also authentically. I’ve been reflecting on how much inner work is required just to hit "publish" sometimes, especially when what we’re sharing comes from the heart rather than a mored put together persona.
One thing that struck me as we wrote this piece is how different “stepping outside our comfort zone” can look depending on where we're starting from. Some of us are confronting self-doubt, others perfectionism and others still are learning to trust that our words matter at all.
So I’d love to hear from this community:
What’s one internal barrier you’ve had to face, or are still facing, when it comes to showing up more fully online?