Vulnerability

I looked up the word vulnerability in the dictionary and the definition it provided was: Capable of being physically or emotionally wounded or hurt. The video we watch in class today was called The Power of Vulnerability. As I was trying to understand what Brene Brown was talking about and relate it to my life, I came up with the idea that in order to live life to the fullest, I need to be open to vulnerability. I need to take chances; believe in myself; and not pretend to be anything I'm not. I have to realize that sometimes life is going to hurt and sometimes I will be let down; while also realizing that by not taking chances, I may just be putting off the inevitable hurt. Relating this to relationships, by having the courage to say 'I love you' first, you are putting yourself into a vulnerable position, and there's the possibility that they won't say it back. Of course this will hurt, but from my understanding of the video I think that it would be better to have put yourself into this vulnerable position and be let down now, than to merely continue pretending that your partner loves you back while you fall further into love, because later on down the road the topic is going to have to come up eventually and it will just hurt more when you realize your love isn't mutual. This kind of happened to me in a relationship I had just outside of high school. My boyfriend said I love you, but I was young and not ready for that. He kept saying it, and I kept. . . not saying it, and we both pretended like I might eventually say I loved him. We eventually broke up, and now that I am older and know how it feels to be in love with someone, I know how hard that must have been for him. He laid his emotions completely out on the table, and I can only imagine how much pain that caused him to never hear me say it. Brene Brown talked in her video about not pretending; just being yourself; and having the courage to let go of who you should be by embracing who you are. I think this means that it doesn't matter what other people expect of you; live in the moment and be able to express yourself; you shouldn't back away from positions of vulnerability, because in order to find out who we are, every once in a while we need to be "physically or emotionally wounded or hurt."