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How to Be Vulnerable

Hey. I'm Sheila Bishop, and I'm about to tell you something most comedians won't admit.

I've been doing stand-up for twenty years. Twenty years of making strangers laugh. Twenty years of being the funniest person in the room. And for most of that time, I was miserable. Depressed. Anxious. Barely holding it together.

The jokes were real. The laughs were real. But underneath? I was dying.

Here's the thing about humor: it's armor. Great armor, actually—better than most. People don't dig deeper when you make them laugh. They assume you're fine. They assume you've got it figured out. Meanwhile, you're alone in a hotel room at 2 AM wondering if anyone would notice if you didn't wake up.

I started being vulnerable—really vulnerable—about five years ago. Not on stage at first. In therapy. Then in small conversations. Then, eventually, in my work. And it changed everything.

This wiki is about that. About taking off the armor. About letting people see the mess. About discovering that the thing you're most afraid to show is often the thing that connects you.

Where to Start

If vulnerability terrifies you:

• Why We Hide — The armor makes sense. It really does.
• The Cost of Invincibility — What you pay to look like you're fine.
• Starting Small — You don't have to strip naked on day one.

If you want to open up:

• Choosing Who To Trust — Not everyone deserves your vulnerability.
• The Art of Honest Conversation — How to actually say the thing.
• When Vulnerability Goes Wrong — It happens. Here's how to recover.

If you're struggling:

• Vulnerability And Depression — The connection runs deep.
• When Being Seen Feels Dangerous — Because sometimes it does.
• The Loneliness of Masks — The price of hiding in plain sight.

If you want to understand:

• The Strength In Vulnerability — Brené Brown was right.
• Vulnerability In Relationships — The only path to real intimacy.
• Being Vulnerable With Yourself — The hardest audience of all.

A Note on This Wiki

I still make jokes. I'll probably never stop—it's who I am. But now the jokes come from a different place. They're not walls anymore. They're windows.

What I've learned is that everyone is hiding something. Everyone has a version of themselves they don't show. And the relief when you finally let someone see—it's like breathing for the first time.

This wiki is for the hiders. The pretenders. The ones who are so good at looking okay that no one asks if they actually are. I see you. Because I was you. Sometimes I still am.

You don't have to be funny to be here. You just have to be tired of pretending.

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• Index — All articles on this wiki
• Sister_Wikis — Our family of wikis

— Sheila Bishop, laughing so I don't cry (and sometimes both)