Vulnerability

Quote from an article: "We slip behind a self-made facade and pretend. Sociologists call it impression management; the rest of us call it pain.

If we wear our masks long enough, we may guard against rejection and we may even be admired, but we’ll never be whole. And that means we’ll never enjoy true intimacy. Here’s the situation. When what you do and what you say do not match the person you are inside - when your deepest identity is not revealed to others - you develop an incongruent or fragmented self. Your outside doesn’t match what’s going on inside. You’re consumed with the impression you’re making on others, constantly asking What should I be feeling? instead of What am I feeling? You’re always wondering what other people think of you. You walk into a relationship and ask yourself How am I doing? instead of How is this person doing? And that subtle shift from thinking of yourself to thinking of others will move you into authenticity, a defining quality of wholeness. Congruent people have the security to focus on how others are doing - not because they want to look good, but because they genuinely care.

Vulnerability begets vulnerability. Once you take off your mask and reveal the real you - your fears, your desires, your excitement - others are likely to do the same. It’s disarming to learn you’re not alone. Vulnerability, you could say, is what builds a bridge from one person to another.

So if you are ever to achieve personal wholeness, it will be because you have the courage to drop your guard, take off your mask, and be real. It will be because you risk rejection from another to be true to yourself."

I wanna be true to myself.. because if you call all our self-made facades and pretenses impression management, I'll disagree because of the PAIN it brings... So what about impression?... But then I'll admit that it's really the tough part to risk rejection and be vulnerable.. to reveal to people my fears, my sadness, my weaknesses..