Hurt. Pain. Injury. They suck. No one wants to seek them out. No one enjoys them. In fact, we tend to create buffers in order to avoid experiencing the harshness of those feelings. We encapsulate our lives with safety and only take carefully calculated risks. However, it’s within the limits of our own control that we have isolated ourselves into shallow lives.
The thing I’ve learned is that to be in real relationship with others that there is risk involved. To let people into the deep parts of your life that you hide from showing in day to day life is scary. What if they reject what they find there? What if they drag out what you’ve carefully protected for the world to see?
Yet it’s only when you decide to take that risk that you get to experience real love. Love beyond impressing someone to be comfortable enough to be yourself. It’s only by risking getting hurt to you see the beauty of friendship. People that stay through the ups and downs, the ugly and the trying.
To live protecting yourself from hurt is to live with a constant defense up. And honestly, it’s exhausting. It’s once you can get past that level of control and open yourself up to be hurt, to get broken, that you get to be free and truly live.
We build our own cages and in doing so miss out on the adventure of life. We miss out on moments that cause our jaw to drop in awe and wonder. We miss out on experiences so sweet they bring tears to our eyes. We miss out on feeling cherished and deeply loved. We miss out on what living is actually about.
