Have You Been Avoiding Vulnerability at all Costs?

If so, You are not alone!

Vulnerability means stepping into uncertainty… and many of us avoid stepping into uncertainty like the plague!
An image encouraging people doing the Safe & Sound Protocol to embrace the uncertainty inherent in vulnerability

How do you know if you have been avoiding vulnerability?  Here’s a start.

The sections below show just some of the ways that avoiding vulnerability may “show up” in your daily life.

The last thing you want to say or do is something that might be misconstrued, or something that might upset another person.  So, you say nothing.  You may simply fear that, if you are not “perfect”, you will not be loved.  This is avoiding vulnerability.

You know intellectually that you deserve “______” (whether it be personally, interpersonally, or professionally).  But you don’t want to risk NOT getting what you ask for or being perceived as “needy”.  So, you stay silent.  This is avoiding vulnerability.

You’ve been hurt before, and you have no intention of getting hurt again.  So, you stay busy at work, home, or school.  Or, you simply isolate yourself.  Basically, you will do anything to keep yourself safe.  This is avoiding vulnerability.

… be it frustrations, perceived failures, or successes.  “Not sharing” may simply be a habit that you learned in childhood.  You don’t believe you have anything of value to offer.  You may believe that, if you express your frustrations, you’ll be perceived/judged as petty or “negative”.  You may fear that you will be ridiculed in some way.  If you share a success, you may fear that you will be perceived as arrogant.  So you keep everything to yourself.  This is avoiding vulnerability.