You won’t be vulnerable today. Me, neither.
We all want to belong. The ways we can do that now are vast, particularly when we consider our online communities. But belonging is different than finding true connection.
Belonging is being part of the running club, the worship team, the school improvement team, the neighborhood BUNCO group.
But True Connection, which often begins with vulnerability, is difficult. It’s hard to come by.
We post in Facebook groups. We look for validation as friends comment and like our posts, tweets and pics. We subscribe to groups that put us in community with other like-minded or like-focused individuals.
If in person, we chat up a potential new friend at preschool pickup. We meet a buddy for exercise. We call a relative on the phone, just to check in.
But we’re scared to put ourselves truly out there.
Admissions of doubt, fear, or failure lurk beneath the surface of our talk. We hold those monsters in, and the little ones grow into big monsters. Yet if we’d only utter those doubts and fears, if we’d only share our failures, we’d likely be surprised at the response.
Me, too.
I have that doubt. I feel that fear. I know that failure.
Me, too.
So I’ll start. I have doubts that I can get this blog off the ground. That I can actually press “publish” and someone will read it and get something constructive from it. I fear that I won’t develop a writing voice, and if I do, no one will care. I fear I’m wasting my time. I’ve started other blogs and abandoned them. What will make this one different?
There it is.
For all the world to potentially see.
But at least I was vulnerable today.
Am I wrong about you, too?
Will you be vulnerable today?
When is the last time you were vulnerable to someone new and found it a little scary? How did it turn out?
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