Vulnerability

Vulnerability...it’s so scary.  If I put myself out there in the world of cyberspace, will the people who see this first post on <Niicounseling.com> like it?  Will they judge it?  Will they even read it?  Will they think, “I’ll never go to that counselor!” Or will they think, “She’s being real!  She struggles just like I do!”   

Vulnerability can take the shape of many things.  It can bring me back to my elementary school days when my third-grade teacher humiliated me in front of the rest of the class, saying that I should never criticize another student’s project!  (Actually, a girl in my neighborhood in the same class set me up.  She asked me, “Which project do you think is the best?”  Then she asked me, “Which project is the worst? Then she went to the teacher and told her what I said.  They were only dioramas—that probably tells my age, too-another potential issue of liability and embarrassment. What comes up for you?

Then there are body issues, physical attractiveness standards, economic status, shy kids who may have encountered neglect, abuse, or trauma—physical or sexual,  and now they are  grown-ups who just never told anybody because they never thought anyone would believe them.  They just weren’t important in their own families.

All these ways of judging people separate and cause shame and heartache.  God created us for connection.  When individuals become stigmatized by families, friends, outside groups, co-workers, or simply individuals, hurt, anger, grief, anxiety and depression show up uninvited into our lives.   Sometimes people just need to have someone to listen to them and help them feel that they are human and loved just as they are...

Do you feel vulnerable?  Maybe you just need to connect with someone.