Take a chance
How many of us disqualify ourselves from connection before it even begins?
How often do we mistake follower count for value?
Last week, I did something that felt bold for me: I put out an invitation, asking if anyone wanted to collaborate. No pitch. No agenda. Just… let’s talk.
Well, it did the latter—and in such a wonderful, non-transactional, soul-level-connection way!
I have a couple of Live conversations and podcasts in the works but I want to talk about this one response I got:
One of the replies started with an apology:“I don’t have a big audience. I’m probably not worth your time.”
That hit me.
Because I’ve said that to myself, too—many times. But I wasn’t looking for reach. I was looking for resonance. So, I offered a private Zoom.
This morning, we found ourselves in a conversation about being human—the messy, complicated, beautiful work of trying to heal while living. We didn't talk about collaboration strategies or audience building.
We talked about:
Trauma without hierarchy: Learning that pain doesn't come with rankings. Everyone's darkness feels complete to them, regardless of its source or severity.
Parenting while healing: The complexity of trying to do better than we were taught while still carrying our own unprocessed wounds.
The prison of productivity culture: From my daughter asking why I spent two hours creating Instagram content for 17 likes, to both of us recognizing how we've internalized the myth that more effort automatically equals better results.
We came from vastly different backgrounds—different countries, different family structures, different religious experiences, different stages of life. On paper, we shouldn't have had much in common.
Our different paths had led to remarkably similar struggles. Both of us learning agency as adults. Both of us unlearning cultural programming that told us we had no control over what happened to us. Both of us discovering that healing isn't linear and that wisdom doesn't always come with age.
I'm sharing this because I want you to realize that real collaboration isn't about what you can offer my platform. It's about recognizing yourself in another person's journey. It's about being witnessed in your struggles and celebrating the small victories together.
That's what happened in our call. Two people who had never met filled something up inside each other, not through advice or expertise, but through witnessed presence.
If you're someone who hesitates to reach out because you don't have "enough" to offer—enough followers, enough expertise, enough polish—please reconsider.
Some of the most meaningful exchanges happen between people who share their authentic selves, their willingness to be vulnerable, their commitment to growth despite difficulty.
This response to my collaboration post changed my week not because someone had something to sell me, but because they had something to share with me: genuine curiosity, openness to connection, and the courage to show up as themselves.
That's the kind of collaboration that actually matters. That's the kind of connection that fills something up inside.
