We’ve been conditioned to take our hearts off of their respective sleeves & close ourselves off to shield us from potential hurt. We only allow ourselves to be defenseless with a small selection of people. Or perhaps none at all. Perhaps we are not even vulnerable with ourselves. There is a great fear of vulnerability amongst us. People don’t want us to be vulnerable because they’re afraid of the feelings it elicits within themselves. Our susceptibility makes them uncomfortable; it reminds them of their own cold hearts. And even within ourselves, we hear brisk voices whispering in our ears: No no, don’t say too much. Don’t be too trusting. Keep your emotions at arm’s distance. Don’t express your heart’s desire. When was the last time you felt totally vulnerable? When was the last time you let your skin crawl with discomfort as you told of how you really feel? When was the last time you surrendered to unguardedness? There is so much power in vulnerability, so much beauty, so much bravery. I’m not suggesting that we become doormats for the feet of others to stand on, or that we let our sometimes flighty feelings take precedence over our intelligence. I am merely stressing the importance of being vulnerable. Of wearing your heart on your sleeve. Of channeling your emotions & manifesting them out into the open. Today, I prompt you to be vulnerable. Say what you really feel. Admit a fantasy, a secret, a failure, an embarrassment, to a friend, to your lover, or to everyone by posting here. In vulnerability, we influence others to be just as open, which creates a gorgeous kind of domino effect of brazen authenticity. While this started as an role playing challenge, I felt it worthwhile to share it with more than just the members of the skype rp room I am a part of. For anyone who wishes to take this role playing challenge, by no means do you have to do so publicly. It could be done between friends or anywhere you happen to rp at. It takes a lot of strength to be truly open, to not hide how we feel... In role play this could be done by expressing your oc's emotions, it could be telling everyone a story about your past through rp.. even if it was something embarrassing to your oc. Having faults and exploring them with others, letting them know where your not so good so that they might help you through it. Best of wishes, Willow (ShyShy) P.S. On a side note, Dear mods/admins, I wasn't sure if this was the right place to put this... Sorry if it is the wrong sub-forums..
I confide in my sister almost everything, despite the circumstances surrounding her and me. One such thing is that I can read, persuade, and manipulate people extremely well, but my moral compass prevents me from abusing it. I also enjoy stealing a great deal and I'm probably a kleptomaniac. The fear of being caught is what keeps that at bay, but once I do get the courage to do it, I tend to steal in sprees.
This is a really cool thing to think about. Ask any of my closest friends, and you'll find that I'm already a pretty vulnerable person. That's why I tend to avoid jumping straight into romantic relationships, because truthfully, I'm also a fragile person. I'm easily hurt by the words and actions of others, which is why I tend to harden my heart when faced with conflict. I'm realizing that sometimes the best conflict resolution is to be passive, even caring. I suppose I've worn my heart on my sleeve many times, especially around those close friends. I guess I'm cautious. Anyway, I'll be taking this challenge, right here and now. If you want to know the truth, I've had problems finding a special someone because, as happy and helpful as I like to be, I also needs someone to lean on; I've wanted someone to be there for me in ways nobody else can. That's my biggest emotional problem. The absence of that someone brings with it a certain loneliness. Thanks for making this thread. It might not have sounded like a big deal, but that was hard to type out. @ Aynine: Thanks for sharing and being open. It helped me to do the same.
I like this girl in my drama class named Brooke, now lets hope she doesn't figure out that I'm on here by searching her own name.
This thread just HAD to pop up, did it... Alright, alright. ................... ................... ................... Oh, fie. I guess I'll say it. Back in high school, I wore leather and had a 50's hairstyle with greased black hair. Are you happy now? @Dilly: I feel your pain, bro. I am also easily hurt by what others say to and about me. But that's what makes us all human. We all have flaws, and if people think that way, then fine. Let them think that. You are who you are, and not what someone else says what you are.
I guess I can get in on this. No matter what, If I say I don't care what you think, I do. I will always remember what you say about me. Good or bad. I had something else I wanted to say but I forgot. I'll post again if I remember.
I guess I can get in on this. No matter what, If I say I don't care what you think, I do. I will always remember what you say about me. Good or bad. I had something else I wanted to say but I forgot. I'll post again if I remember.
I feel I'm a very vulnerable person, both for the good and the bad. I'm not afraid to be kind and share my feelings and fears with complete strangers. Even though I often end up 'walking into a solid wall' when I do this, I usually I don't care. That kind of vulnerability doesn't make me insecure. What does make me insecure is simply walking through my school, or a shop, or some other crowded place. I'm afraid people will yell mean things to me. And when this happens my heart starts drumming, my legs turn to rubber, my world drains of color and my day is ruined... In other words, I'm very vulnerable to bullying. I'm lucky I'm not really being bullied, but there is this group of kids that sometimes calls me names. They're a couple of years younger than me, and I've no idea who they are really. They don't really have anything specific to bully me with either, so I guess they just took note of my 'plz world don't be mean to me'-aura. And to be honest I'm really embarresed about this. I'm frustrated I can't just stand up for myself... not even to those kids. I just don't know how to deal with this. Both physically and verbally I feel defenseless against any kind of agressive behavior. It makes me worry A LOT. It makes me nervous to go to school, or even think about school... So, that's the other side of my vulnerability. Has anypony any advice? I'd really appreciate it.
Hmm. Sorry, but I fear i cant take this challenge. In my childhood I was very open to the world, vulnerable. Other kids used to use my kindness to their benefit. Even i still remember that I was very patient, but one day on the school bus I exploded with anger against a school-mate that was bothering me. (and I sended the kid to the hospital :/.) Yes, i know its good to show yer true feelings to the world, but try to do that near a family that thinks your a moron all the time. I still show some of my innocence, but only to the people i care much. I couldn't make any friends in elementary, so I was usually all day in video games. Well, to admit something here? well, I did too much things in my life that I wouldn't find an appropriate one. Either way, thanks for reminding me the importance of being, well, vulnerable. :l and could you believe I have only 18? wow, talk about huge failure in my life!
I've always been open to an extent with everyone, sharing my beliefs and thoughts regardless of the insults that I recieve from it. I'm not going to lie and say that it dosent hurt me when they toss away my views, and for a time when I was really young (just starting school) I became very aggresive because of this. I always received their criticizm of my views as a criticism of myself, and so I lashed out at everyone around me. Three years after that things started to get better, I was still open about myself but had learned that sometimes it was best to stay silent and not voice my opinions. I was rather child-like then, not that I'm much moreso now, but back then I was very trusting of others. I remember one time that I had brought my game boy to school for some show-and-tell or something and some kid asked me if they could have a look at it. There was no game card in it so when they turned it on they thought it was broken, I was about to tell them they needed to put one in but before I could finish my sentence they'd thrown it on the ground. As minor as that was, I spent a week shelled up in my own thoughts of how I could have prevented it from happening. I began to be open again later, but never had anyone i trusted for two years. Once I began to trust again it was quickly shattered. Two years later i befriended a boy who, while a bit mischievious, had always came across to me as being a bit of a social outcast, like I felt I had always been. One day came that has been scarred into my memory ever since, and brought on three years of depression for me, where I isolated myself from everyone, tried to run away from home, and even attempted to commit suicide a couple of times. That day everything had been fine, I believe i was actually rather happy until that incident. The boy (who shall remain unamed) saw another kid, one whom we had quite disliked as we had both suffered from him the previous year. It was lunch, and there were at least thirty kids in the area, and the person who had bullied us the previous year had been tying their shoelaces. We walked up to him, I dont remember what I had planned to say to him, and then the boy pulled down the bullies pants in front of all the kids. Somehow, none of them thought it was him. I took all the blame for the incident, It seemed unbelievable to me that there wasn't a single person in the school who was willing to stand up for me and say I didn't do it. I spent the rest of my time at that school alone, nobody was willing to be seen near me, lest they become associated with what I had done. I had never been particularly liked by anyone, but from that moment onwards it seemed as though the entire school hated me. It wasn't all bad, I found i had a particular passion for reading from it, as the only fun I could get during breaks was to read. My grades didn't drop, like I've heard some peoples do, though this was primary school, and I've only heard of those that suffer from depression in high school. I actually maintained a 98% average in maths and I never got less than 80% on anything, yet all that did was draw attention to me whenever we got results back, and often the attention was followed by the consequences for having been unfortunate enough to be blamed for that incident. When i graduated I was still closed up, but i found in year 8 of middle school that I could do poetry. An english assignment we had to do required us to write ten poems, and though I was never able to really appreciate the words I wrote, they seemed to flow so naturally. I found that whenever I wrote, I would be able to commit my feelings to the paper, and began to express myself first through poetry, and then I was able to slowly come out of my shell throughout middle school. I'm 16 now, and am nearing the start of year 11, yet I've never really felt that I was able to belong anywhere. My writing helped me to be able to be more open about myself. It may not be for everyone, but it gave me the help i needed to pull myself out of my misery, and gave me something to live for. I may have been getting rather offtopic here so I'll try to sum it up. I guess what I'm trying to say is that poetry can be a great start to airing out your feelings. You don't need to have people see it, you don't need to have people know about it, but it really helped my to be more open about myself without feeling torn apart everytime that I'm ridiculed for it. It might be that I've matured since then or something else entirely, but to me it seems that poetry was a big part of it, so I guess thats my advice to anyone needing to be more open about themselves.
