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Strength in Weakness: Glancing into vulnerability

Ananya Zharotia

What vulnerability is
Vulnerability can be a strength. It is a way of life that helps you experience reality as it is. Essentially, vulnerability means being exposed; emotionally or physically, that can somehow put you in harm's way. But, just like life in its entirety, it depends on how you perceive it. If you think about it as exposure in a negative light, that’s alright; as a personal preference, you can stay away from it. But some can perceive vulnerability as a good thing. Some see it as a way to truly experience life for its reality, completely and to the fullest. When someone lets themselves be vulnerable, it is a way of understanding and accepting some of the difficulties that come with life and still letting their guard down and trying not letting those hindrances get to them.

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What vulnerability is not
Again, it’s all about perspectives. So, from this perspective we need to establish what vulnerability isn’t. It isn’t stupidity or being foolish. Stupidity would mean that you’re ignoring the possibility that you might get hurt. Foolishness is completely brushing off the risks of something or someone, the risks you were aware of. Vulnerability isn’t a bad thing. It is not something that always leads to getting hurt. It has risks, but so does everything else. Does that mean you won’t do anything? If you’re scared of the risks you can choose where you’re vulnerable and where you aren’t. It’s not easy but it’s definitely possible. Trust yourself. Let yourself learn from your experiences.

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Why vulnerability is necessary
People often put their guard up out of fear of getting hurt. They may, they may not. There’s no way to keep someone safe from getting hurt because life is full of twists and turns that can cause people to get hurt. Picture this: you’re scared of getting hurt, physically, so you wear a suit of armour. You walk around all day everyday in that suit of armour because you’re scared of tripping and falling, something that happens to almost everyone at least once if not several times in a lifetime. The idea is ridiculous right? Why? Because you can’t live in fear forever. Whether it is fear of pain and of getting hurt. You can’t do a lot of things when you’re stuck inside a suit of armour. You can’t experience life for what it is. So why do we do the same thing with our mind? Granted, when we get hurt emotionally, it can be a bit more harsh. There are times you can’t get out of bed. You can’t function. But just like a physical wound it will heal when you let it. When you wound yourself, say a cut, you don’t keep picking on the scab right? You know you shouldn’t do that because the wound will probably bleed out and/or be exposed again. You leave it alone and you let it heal, you give it time. But when we get hurt emotionally, we let ourselves pick at the wound over and over and it gets exposed again but what we should do is leave it alone, maybe tend to it so it heals. You can’t live in fear of getting hurt because while it gives you pain; getting hurt is a part of life, it happens to everyone. You want to be happy, you want to feel good things and for that to happen you have to let yourself feel things in the first place. You don’t get to pick your feelings. You don’t choose only the good things and not the bad. You can’t appreciate the good unless you experience the bad. 

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Conclusion
Vulnerability isn’t a bad thing unless you decide it is. There is strength in letting yourself be weak or vulnerable. It’s not only strength but it also takes a lot of courage to do that- to trust someone who isn’t predictable to you. It isn’t foolish to let yourself be vulnerable. It’s a part of life to get hurt. Getting hurt is okay but it is also important for you to let yourself heal. It heals when you don’t keep going over it again and again and just let it be or tend to it. Vulnerability can be your strength. Let yourself feel. Let yourself experience life because it has a lot to offer you, let yourself out of the hole you’ve dug for yourself. You might get hurt but that’s okay because at the end of the day, all wounds heal. Trust yourself. Trust the choices you make and that if you learn from your experiences, you can figure things out

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