It’s Okay To Be Vulnerable

Uncertainty swirls and fear abounds. Nothing terrifies me more than a lack of control. I look in the mirror and tell myself to buck up. Demand of myself nothing short of a brave face and the spirit of a champion.

Can you really hurt if you choose to be numb? Do you really lose if you never admit to defeat? Ice won’t melt if you don’t allow it to, so steering clear of anything warm and fuzzy was always the preferred path.

But as doubt knocks on the door from outside, where the world plays the game with its own set of rules, the time has never been more perfect to accept that to be human is to be broken. And there is beauty to be found in the glorious mess.

It is okay to be scared, because how else can I learn to be brave?

It is okay to be lonely; that’s where I learn to love myself and realize what I deserve and need.

It’s perfectly fine to be unsure and to doubt; there isn’t always a plan for what life throws at you.

It’s okay to fail. Hell, I know that I will learn more from one defeat than a thousand wins have ever taught me.

It’s okay to be sad. Or angry. Or happy. Or all three all at once. There really are no rules. And most of life’s best moments have a little of everything mixed in, anyway.

It is okay to admit you were wrong and okay to forgive, even if it is yourself you need to forgive.

Feeling let down and abandoned is how I figured out to stand on my own two feet, even if it was shakily at first.

It’s okay to feel. It’s okay to allow myself to break. Strength and courage are valuable, but true resilience comes when I allow myself to feel, when I embrace the flaws and mess and cracks that come from my humanity. Only through vulnerability can I truly find the freedom my soul so desperately craves.