The Art of Vulnerability
Most of us live our lives ghosting ourselves amongst the milieu, trying to live life by the norms. We often start looking at ourselves from the lens of others, delving into their considerations of ourselves. And start spending our lives crafting the mask of indifference around our own feelings and understanding and wear it as a badge for strength and congeniality.
People think of vulnerability as weakness, as fear, as betrayal and hurt. Whenever we are in a situation that demands us to be vulnerable, we start feeling threatened as if a trigger has been pulled and our survival mode has been activated. We conjure to pretending as if nothing bothers us. But I often think about what really happens when we open ourselves and become vulnerable.
If I look at it, when we were kids we knew no barriers, no fear, no failure, no imposter. We only knew life and lived out our imagination without any apprehensions. However, the dawn of adulthood brought awareness of failures, barriers, and our own flaws. We had these lenses soldered to our eyes, which made us look at what the world has been telling us as we grew up. We then became too damn afraid to get vulnerable, to let our guard down and see that we all have more in common than we don’t.
Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as running from it. When we show up and allow ourselves to be seen, and share our stories; we permit other people to do the same. And the best thing is that vulnerability is contagious, it breeds empathy and brings people closer, making them feel less insecure, less alone. The vulnerability happens when you merge with your authentic self, instead of hiding behind a facade to please others’ demands and opinions.
It’s one thing to feel vulnerable and quite another to let yourself be vulnerable. We don’t need to mask or deny our vulnerability. It is our greatest asset, and our willingness to be vulnerable is the greatest strength a human being can possess. That is where the truest expression of the human experience lives. It’s the part of a bigger realization that we are not born to hide. It opens you up to infiniteness, and with the exposure to emotional openness and vulnerability, you can not avoid colliding with inspiration. Thus, vulnerability is the womb of innovation, creativity, and art.
Allowing yourself to be vulnerable is recognizing and accepting the fact that we are all, in one way or another, at some point or another, vulnerable. It is definitely not comfortable but is at least not being a coward. It does mean that you’re bound to get yourself hurt, broken, shattered. But if we stay persistent in our desire to keep yourselves safe and sane, we might be closing a thousand doors, and missing out on so many gratifications and joys of our existence.
The realness of being alive is in being vulnerable and is quite inevitable. It’s simply a part of the unalterable framework of human existence. Do not shy away from your rawness, from putting your self-excavation on display. Let’s embrace our vulnerability and welcome the goodness that comes along in form of people, situations, realizations, and things. It is where our power lies. In the words of Haruki Murakami, from Norwegian Wood:
“What happens when people open their hearts?”
“They get better.”
Writing my thoughts out here was being vulnerable for me, but I wanted to express it anyway, so we could talk about what makes you feel vulnerable? Do let me know if my words were of any help to bring you closure.
