Meet the Maker: Jesse Genet of Lumi

Being a creative in this day and age can at times be daunting — uncertainty about job security, the fear of rejection and staying in love with your passion after it becomes your job can be more than enough to turn people away. “When your vocation becomes your occupation, there’s always a little shift, so you have to protect it,” Brené tells us. “You have to keep the love alive so it doesn’t become just another thing you have to do, because then you can’t put the magic in it.”

And for creative women, we face an additional catalog of hurdles. “Creativity is kind of revealing a part of our soul, and we live in a pretty hostile environment,” Brené says, “so I think it’s scary to put yourself out there when there are so many critics and cynics out there today. I think that’s what make creativity scary, and I think that’s what make it powerful.” Rising in the face of adversity is certainly a strong statement. As our FLOTUS put it, “When they go low, we go high.”

And when you put yourself out there — yes, sometimes you’re going to fail. That’s okay. What you have to be careful of is letting your failures define you. “One of the big life stages at mid-life, anywhere from mid-thirties to late-fifties, the big developmental life stage is integration. We bring home all the parts of ourselves that we have orphaned because we don’t they fit in with who we’re supposed to be, we call them all home and we say, ‘This is me. The good, the bad, the tough, the beautiful.’,” Brené tells us. “I think that’s the gift of being my age, I have a very sensitive bulls–t meter so if you haven’t called everything home and made peace with those parts of us that are hard, that’s hard to be around.” And being able to pick up again after your fall — or even forgiving yourself for lingering down there too long — is all part of the process.

What do you think about Brené Brown’s advice? Tweet us @BritandCo!

(Photos courtesy of Brené Brown and Sugarboo)

Opt for canned beer

This was one of my earliest discoveries in the world of fake drinking. No one can see your drink when it's in a can. You might read that and think, yeah so? Well, take that can with you to the other can, and dump it out in the sink. Fill it up with water and no one will be the wiser. In fact, they'll think — wow, she's really blasting through those Coors Lights. Pro tip: Be sure to wipe any water drips off the can before you leave the bathroom, and rinse the sink so there's no errant beer foam floating around.

If you have to order a real drink, choose a clear cocktail. This is the classic move. You creep over to the bar when no one else is around, and order a club soda with lime. Think of it as a mocktail. Be sure to ask the bartender to serve it to you in a cocktail glass — a giant water glass or plastic cup is a dead giveaway.

If it's impossible to get alone time at the bar, order a vodka soda (or gin and tonic). Then take it to the bathroom, dump out the liquid (use a straw to keep the ice and any garnishes in the cup), then fill it with water instead. Complain about the soda or tonic being flat if anyone questions your drink's lack of tiny bubbles.

Make friends with bartenders. At first, bartenders give you a bit of side-eye when you ask for a club soda in a cocktail glass. They won't ask you what the deal is, but you can let them assume what they like — especially when you order that second or third club soda in a cocktailglass.

If you're feeling cavalier, and you and the bartender have really hit your stride, you can even say, “I'll take anything non-alcoholic that looks like a cocktail." I actually made SUCH good friends with a bartender at a wedding where I was fake drinking that every time I came over to the bar, he immediately winked at me and gave me “my regular." My friends guffawed at the fact that I was already friends with the bartender. Pro.

Allude to a possible tannin allergy. Wine is the toughest thing to fake, so don't even try. Tell your friends about how, out of nowhere, you've started to get headaches immediately after drinking a glass of wine. When they're like, “Is it just when you drink red?" reply with a frustrated sigh, “No, both red and white make me feel crappy — maybe it's a tannin thing?" Then get your faux canned beer or clear mocktail, and call it a day.

Ginger ale is a GREAT substitute for Champagne. Ginger ale looks like Champagne, it smells kind of like Champagne, and if your friends are tipsy enough and take a sip, they'll actually believe that it IS Champagne. Don't overdo this one though — too much sugary soda is not a good thing for you and your secret babe!

Pretend to be getting over a cold (so no one asks for a sip). After all, it's sick season! [Insert fake coughs here]

Always be the one to order or serve a round of shots. Shots are one of the toughest things to fake. Like, really difficult. And you might be thinking, who still takes shots anyway? Well, the answer is: I do. Or rather, I did. It would have been impossible to be at my two besties' bachelorette party without at least one round of shots. So what's a preggo to do? Serve 'em up, of course.

Because shots are best served as a surprise to inspire a second wind in any given party, you can creep into the kitchen to set things up. Pour all but one, and fill that one with a substitute. Ideally, it looks like what you're serving, and if that's not possible, make 3-5 of them vodka shots including yours, which is actually… water! If ordering shots at a bar, you're probably already friends with the bartender, so just ask him to make yours a fake one and to put a napkin or coaster under it on the tray that comes out.

Keep a drink in your hand at all times. This is an obvious one, but it's worth mentioning. If you don't have a drink on hand, someone will either hand you one or give you a hard time for not drinking. DO NOT give them that opportunity ;)

Never leave your drink unattended. Hopefully, you already have this rule in your wheelhouse from your college days. In this case, the key here is avoiding two things: friendly refills and someone accidentally picking up your drink and finding out it's phony.

Avoid being the first one to hit the hay. If you've already been squirreling around on the beverage front, the next clear sign that you might be secretly pregnant is when you're the first one to go to bed. So don't do that. Don't go to bed. Ever! Okay, at some point you'll need to go to bed because you need a TON of sleep in your first trimester, but avoid being the first party pooper at all costs.

And don't use getting up early “for a run" or “to do some work" as an excuse for going to bed — friends that know you will see right through that.