You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning
Often when we're being tough and strong, we're scared. It takes a lot of courage to allow ourselves to be vulnerable, to be soft.
—Dudley Martineau
We've developed defenses for protection because we have felt the need for protection from the abuses of others, parents on occasion, bosses, spouses, even strangers. And in certain situations, our defenses served us well for a time. However, they have taken their toll. Hiding behind them for long makes them habitual, and we move farther and farther away from our center, from the woman each of us needs and wants to be.
Exposing who we really are invites judgment, sometimes rejection, often times discounting. It's a terribly hard risk to take, and the rewards are seldom immediate. But with time, others respect us for our vulnerability and begin to imitate our example. We are served well by our integrity, in due time.
Letting others see who we really are alleviates confusion, theirs and ours. We no longer need to decide who we should be; we simply are who we are. Our choices are simplified. There is only one appropriate choice to every situation--the one that is honest and wholly reflective of who we are at that moment.
Rewards will be forthcoming when I am honest.
Allowing myself to become vulnerable was my greatest fear. I had been hurt many times mentally, emotionally, and physically on my journey to the doors of recovery. When I met all these new people, I was so grateful to find people who had been where I had been, some hadn't walked my walk, while others had had a much harder road to travel, yet we could all join as one on this recovery road.
