Let’s face it. We live in a world where our egos rule. We always wish to let our strengths be seen, and we tend to hide all the weaknesses away. Most of us has a mindset that a good solution to cure the struggles we face is to deflect our vulnerabilities. As a result, we suffer alone. We keep all of those things to ourselves because we fear to lose the trophy of status and power and most of all, we fear to lose social exclusion.
Ironically, the key to avoid social exclusion is through empathy, and the way to empathy is having the courage to show your vulnerabilities. We understand each other when we speak from our hearts. And that is what keeps us connected and glued to each other.
We tend to keep the things that are hard to be spoken. Sadly, they are usually the ones that mean the most. Let’s not waste the opportunities for growth. I know that it is a risk, but we must take it. We might never know the difference it will make in our lives, but remember that in the end, we will only regret the chances we didn’t take.
We also believe that we have a full control of our whole selves. But believe it or not, it is a mere illusion. Yes of course, we can always control the way we react, we can control what we show, but we will never deny what we feel. No matter how good your pretension skills are, it always will show. In fact, we harm ourselves when we pretend, because we chose to remain ignorant to look and reflect at ourselves honestly and gently.
Oftentimes, we push against our feelings, we push our vulnerabilities, but in the end of the day, they will win, but we won’t lose either, because we have probably won our lives back. As Louise Altman said,
“We cannot skip, overcome or outsmart the vulnerability – the fragility of our humanness. Not if we want to be fully alive. But we can bring it out of the dark and work on it – together.”
References:
Altman, Louise. “Vulnerability is our Common Bond” August. 2015. Web. 14 Sept. 2015.
sharlynnego 