Covered or exposed, guarded or vulnerable… how should we live our lives?

To be honest, I’m not sure I know the answer to that question.

I know what’s easier though. Its easier to feel safe behind a protective layer. Shells can cover all the pieces we want to hide and protect us from being exposed to the outside elements, from getting burned, from getting cut. It’s pretty. It’s safe.

Living guarded is easier.

But living vulnerable… now that’s hard.

It’s hard to have your authentic self on full display, with every imperfection uncovered. It’s dangerous exposing the raw parts of who you are to the outside world because it might not be treated kindly. It’s messy. It’s risky.

But when we live guarded all the time, we risk never really feeling anything. And living numb isn’t really living at all. Living exposed allows us to feel everything, to actually BE in the moment because we are IN the moment, not hiding behind some barrier. When we see each other for what really is, we also open the door to true understanding and authentic connection.

I’ve been wrestling against the two sides lately.

Maybe it’s okay to not choose a camp. To not be fully one or the other. Maybe it’s okay to need safety one day and need genuine feeling the next. To need a wig to feel normal some days and going bald on other days in order to embrace the now.

I think it’s okay to do both. To be both.

What do you think?