“The ideal situation for understanding another is not so much how a person reacts to extreme stress, but rather how he or she suffers the vulnerability of falling in love.” – Aldo Caratenuto
I sat across from a wild amazing storyteller as he downed a shot of whiskey. “People think I’m really good at vulnerability,” he said. “I get up on stage, I share crazy events and all of my feelings, and they say… ‘I could never do that. I could never be that brave.’ What they don’t realize, is that I’m still only sharing up to my level of safety. I’m just willing to share a lot more… but I never go past my own barriers. That’s just too hard.”
I know many folks who are remarkable in tough situations, and when they approach relationships, their walls go up- fast and high. Perhaps I know those folks because I am them. I also find myself on stage, sharing my stories, but it is falling in love that triggers anxiety in me more than anything. Being seen in my desires, as I fail and as I learn is the easiest for me to want to leave.
My MO is to ask all the questions. It makes me very good at my job, but I have to work not to hide behind it. I have to remember to share. I have to recognize the immediate need to deflect after I’ve shared.
Vulnerability requires that we share what is on our hearts in the moment that it arises. It gives gifts to those that can say, “I don’t know where to start, so I’ll say what’s on my heart right now.” As Brene Brown says, “Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage.”
To the courage it takes to be your most vulnerable self,
JESS
These Soulful Sunday blogs go out weekly on Sundays to be used as a place to step back from the hustle and bustle and explore what your soul might be saying to you. Some folks use these as journal prompts and let loose amidst pages. Some folks bring them to the kitchen table and jam over coffee. Do you, boo.
