I’ll add to the pile of people who love this post.
Vulnerability isn’t weakness. It’s about showing me the most private pieces of yourself, and that doesn’t make you weak. You’re still as strong as you’ve ever been. To me, you’re stronger.
You protect yourself; you have to. There are people out there in the big bad world who would leap at the chance to tear you down, throw your face in the mud and make you breathe it. Who would make your life a nightmare, if they were given half the chance. So you hide your vulnerable parts away, like any sensible person would, along with your insecurities, your neurosis, and your little shames.
But you lose something, when you do that. You spend so much effort locking these things away, these things you want to have out there, because they make you you, and it’s exhausting. You’re exhausted. You’ve been hiding these things away for so long, that you aren’t even sure that you know how to find them again. You just hope you marked the spot with a twenty foot X.
It’s ok. I’ve got a treasure map. I kind find them for you, bring them out, and let you take your guard down, dissemble all those walls and just enjoy the open air for a moment. I’ll watch the door, make sure no one else comes in and sees them, I promise. It’ll just be me, me and your vulnerabilities. Your idiosyncrasies, your insecurities, and your little shames. I love your little shames.
That’s what I’m here for, after all. To make you at ease, to make you comfortable enough to bring those things bubbling back to the surface, because they’ve been submerged for so very, very long. I’m your moat, your drawbridge, your castle walls. I keep the worst out, so you can get rid of all the bullshit that you have to use to protect yourself. That’s me. That’s what I’m for.