GET VULNERABLE

Vulnerability is the quality of being susceptible to possible harm resulting from emotional or physical factors. It is a state of being exposed to attacks, injury, or criticism. Vulnerability can also be viewed as the inability to defend oneself or resist an attack. However it’s also a conscious effort to freely disclose your emotions and desires to others without being manipulative and is currently the #1 tool used to build trust in relationships, improve intimacy, show more vital empathy, and build authenticity.

The willingness to express your feelings adequately 

is necessary for a healthy relationship. It helps to build clear boundaries and discover a more realistic and understandable bond. Vulnerability actually possesses a subtle form of power that improves one's resilience in relationships.

Why is vulnerability an essential factor in being open to love? 

One may wonder how opening oneself to a possible attack is vital to establish a healthy relationship. Generally, people often avoid being vulnerable to evade being judged or feeling attackable. But vulnerability goes a long way to improve a relationship bond by helping your partner understand you and your struggles better and infuses honesty.

How Vulnerability Improves Relationship

1. It builds a lasting connection: Giving out vulnerable information about oneself builds an intense intimacy with your partner and helps your partner to fully understand your weaknesses, challenges, feelings, thoughts, and how to manage them appropriately. It would allow your partner to accept you for who you are and improve your bond.

2. Builds Trust: Showing vulnerability helps to test the relationship's stability, which helps create a trustworthy relationship.

3. Humanizing Effect: Our vulnerabilities show how humane we are in trying to show perfectionism in all that we do. This humanizing effect gives off an accessible impression to our partners and makes us more reliable. It further creates room for a supportive relationship without the existence of fear.

4. Improves our self-love: If we find partners that genuinely care for us despite our vulnerabilities, we tend to start accepting ourselves for who we indeed are. We begin to nurse our fragility and embrace our vulnerable nature.

5. Improves the love in the relationship: Accepting vulnerabilities helps us reject emotional judgement and exchange love in a more enlightened manner. We can have a clearer picture of our relationship and increase love, accountability, and experience in-depth passion.

How to be Vulnerable but still protect yourself and your energy by setting boundaries:

Vulnerabilities and boundaries go hand in hand. The importance of discipline in relationships gives rise to the existence of boundaries in relationships. Boundaries are restrictions set to improve our emotional and psychological being. People who display vulnerability in relationships can still set boundaries to protect themselves emotionally, mentally and physically by;

1. Understanding what they need and setting standards, communicating those standards with their partners, and standing firm on them!

2. Prioritizing self-care by regularly practicing energizing activities that bring you joy and comfort such as, spending time alone with nature, or attending outdoor events, spending the day at the spa.

3. Accepting to take control over your thoughts and not allowing what others feel or say to affect you. By doing so, you are reducing the act of pleasing others to your detriment.

One of my favorite experts on vulnerability, Brene Brown, says vulnerability is often seen as a weakness, but is considered as a relationship strength. It is an essential tool to create healthy relationships, build better bonds and improve trust. While it is also a beneficial tool, boundaries should be set to enhance emotional and psychological well being. Let’s get vulnerable!