You’re imperfect, and you’re wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.

Brown’s line distills a central claim of her research-driven work on shame, vulnerability, and belonging: that human difficulty is not a personal defect but part of our design. “Imperfect” and “wired for struggle” normalize pain, failure, and uncertainty as universal conditions rather than evidence of unworthiness. The pivot—“but you are worthy of love and belonging”—separates worthiness from performance, perfection, or approval. In Brown’s framework, accepting inherent worth is the foundation for practicing vulnerability and building genuine connection; it counters shame’s message that we must earn belonging by being flawless. The quote functions as a compassionate reframe and a call to self-acceptance.