Why you should be more like white paint to connect with people

Be like paint.

I was painting a wall in my living room the other day.

And as I opened a pot of white paint I noticed something that surprised me.

You normally think of white paint being, well… white.

Plain.

Neutral.

Disappear into the background stuff.

But on the inside of the rim I could see the finest ring of dark, charcoal grey.

And it got me thinking.

White paint is made up of lots of things.

And before all of these things are shmooshed together (technical term) they aren’t white at all.

But afterwards these individual things all come together to look like white paint.

The same is true of you.

How you are in the world, professionally and personally, is the result of the shmooshing of many things.

Your experiences.

Your adventures.

Your failures.

Your knock them out of the park successes.

Things that kept you up into the wee hours.

Good and bad.

The conversations that you’ve had.

Especially those conversations that made all the difference.

The times when you’ve been the best version of you.

The times when you don’t know what the heck you are doing.

The times when you have a strong sense of belonging.

And the times when you’re as lost as a leaf in a storm.

All of these make up you.

But people might just see the white paint.

However, when we use our words well with others we deepen our connections.

Letting people see the real us shows the many different shades we are.

Yes, it makes us vulnerable.

And that can feel risky.

It can also be liberating.

Grounding.

And build real engagement.

✅ How can you use your words to share who you are?