Vulnerablity

Sometimes I get hit by the fact that we all live in this world where we feel like we cannot truly be ourselves. We’re conditioned from a young age to conform to be someone based solely on a specific combination of qualities we are said to possess. We all wear masks and have problems that we feel we cannot share with other people because we fear judgement. Because we live in a society where being judged is the norm. And God, do we try and deny it. We all pretend that we’ve got it all figured out, while we unknowingly watch other people do the same, and we convince ourselves that they’ve somehow truly got it all together. And it’s only in the dark of night, when the masks seem to slip away from their rigid guard over our imperfections, that we truly see each other as we are. Human. It’s only when you have that 4am conversation with the person you could have sworn you knew, that you wholly understand that we are all going through life the best we can. And none of us have it all figured out. It’s in that moment, I think, that we breathe a sigh of relief as we realise that we cannot, and we should not, be defined by a list of set qualities.. We’re ever-changing and there’s beauty in that. We’re human and we are not meant to be copies of one another. How many times can you say that you’ve looked at someone else and wished you could be more like them. Or you’ve looked at yourself and you’ve cried because you just can’t seem to get it all worked out, and why is it so difficult for you and yet so easy for others. It’s funny how vulnerability is said to be synonymous with weakness when in actuality vulnerability is precisely our salvation. It’s in the moments that we are most vulnerable that we are the strongest, because it is in that moment that we let our masks down and we truly become ourselves. In my eyes, vulnerability is synonymous with beauty and I hope one day it’s not something that I fear so fiercely.