To Anyone Who’s Afraid Of Being Vulnerable

First off, I know exactly how you feel.

Your skin is paper-thin and even the tiniest of insults infiltrate inside, circulating throughout your body starting at your brain and then reaching your heart.

At this point in your life you’ve acknowledged your vulnerability, and although you’ve accepted it, it does not mean life is any easier.

You’ve most likely envied people who appeared to brush off every mishap and never seem to get hurt, people who had skin so thick that a bullet could bounce off.

I’m sure you’ve even grown mad at yourself for allowing yourself to be so easily offended, like there was something wrong with you for feeling so vulnerable.

Contrary to what you may have believed your whole life, you aren’t alone.

You’re not the only one who who feels vulnerable when you’re in a room surrounded by groups of people but you stand alone; when someone shares something unkind that they heard about you causing you to wonder who else feels this way. When you receive rejection from a person to whom you’re attracted, or when you send a risky text message and are afraid to look at your phone for the following three hours— just to list a few examples.

In a world where we’re constantly ordered to “toughen up,” it’s a beautiful sentiment to wear your heart on your sleeve. The more we stifle our vulnerability, the more bitter we grow as a society. When you allow yourself to truly be seen, you create genuine connections with others. If you don’t allow yourself to be vulnerable with yourself and others, no one will genuinely know you.

At the end of the day, you’re entitled to every one of your feelings. Don’t allow anyone to belittle you for your sensitivity. Vulnerability does not make us weak; it makes us human.