Locking your heart away isn’t going to protect you. It isn’t going to save you from heartache.

When you choose to lock your heart away, you’re choosing to push people away.

You’re not giving anyone the chance to get to know the real you — and you’re not getting a chance to know the real them.

Even though you might be afraid to grow attached to someone and risk having your heart shattered by them, you aren’t going to be happy standing on the sidelines forever.

There is going to come a day when you realize how lonely you’ve been. Maybe that day has already arrived. Maybe you wish you could let people inside but can’t seem to summon the strength to go through with the idea.

Even though it’s scary to give someone the knowledge to tear you apart from the inside out, it’s a risk you should take for the right person. As long as you trust them to treat you right, you shouldn’t overthink things.

Let yourself say the things you’ve been holding inside. Let yourself feel the things you’ve been trying to push away for such a long time.

Even though you might think isolating yourself is helping you, it’s really only stifling you. It’s stunting your inner growth. It’s making it harder for you to become the sensitive, soft-hearted soul you were destined to become.

There’s nothing wrong with wearing your heart on your sleeve, with admitting your feelings, with giving yourself permission to love with full force.

Locking your heart away might seem like the easiest thing to do in the short-term, but it’s going to backfire in the long-term. It’s going to stop you from forming deep connections with people who would treat you right. It’s going to stop you from widening your heart, spreading your kindness.

You might have been hurt before and hesitant to love again — and that’s okay. You don’t have to jump right back into the dating scene. You don’t have to hand your heart over to the first person who shows interest.

It’s good to be selective. It’s good to be careful about who you trust with your thoughts, your secrets, your soul.

You’re allowed to keep your walls up for a while, while you’re getting to know someone, while you’re figuring out whether or not they can be counted on.

You’re allowed to make sure you’re committing to the right person before putting everything on the line.

You’re allowed to move at a slow pace, to ask your person to be patient, to wait for you to get more comfortable.

You’re allowed to be cautious with your heart, but you shouldn’t close off your heart.

You shouldn’t leave up your walls, even once you find someone who treats you right, someone who you could picture yourself in a long-term relationship alongside. You shouldn’t stubbornly decide you’re going to stay single forever, no matter who you meet, no matter how your heart is impacted.

It’s okay to guard your heart. You just have to learn how to recognize when to put that guard down.