Authenticity & Vulnerability in Relationships

05 Aug Authenticity & Vulnerability in Relationships

We live in a world where asking for validation is seen as needy, yearning for a relationship is seen as non-spiritual, and hyper-independence is put on a pedestal.

As human beings we are fragile, and our strength does not lie in trying to mask our fragility, but in embracing it.

We are not here to act enlightened, to hide behind illusionary stories, to create a false identity in order to please society. We are here to live our truth, and part of our truth is that we have desires, we want to be validated, we want to be loved.

So far, I am tired but deeply grateful, wet from the salt spray. I have stood by the shore all day and all my adulthood, day after day and some nights. But now, I am ready to kiss the heart of a man brave enough to surf fear and give voice to it even if it’s messy. In voicing our fears, we introduce oxygen and in doing so give our fires life.

And yet, I shall fondly look back at those times of loneliness in the water, the rock of the deep ocean, the creak of the board that buoys me, the feeling of my tired arms shaking and heavy as I paddle again and again against the strong waves.

I do not want my idea of him.

That is too easy, and it is not real.

I want him, faults and all.

And I want him to want me, faults and all, not any ideas he has about love for I have seen many shadows of it, shadows so weak they cannot block the sun of this hot heart.