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Vulnerability In Love

Written by Evan Bailyn on 06/20 at 10:59 AM

I have wavered on the question of whether true love really exists since the first time I told a girl I loved her nine years ago. Up until recently, I thought love was an elusive feeling, more of an ideal than a reality, something that could be felt in fragments during a beginning-of-relationship fascination but never achieved in the way shown in novels and movies. With all of my long-term girlfriends, I thought I was in love during the relationship, but then questioned the feeling afterwards. I wasn’t able to say with certainty that I had experienced love. In retrospect, I think the “love” I felt in the past was actually a sum of physical attraction, a strong fondness for the girl’s personality, and a desire to be within the security of a relationship. What I have learned is that true love requires one ingredient more powerful than any of those factors: vulnerability.

Realizing the connection between love and vulnerability has given me a clearer perspective on my past relationships. As a teenager, I partook in some of the usual defense mechanisms acquired at that time: holding in my emotions, projecting a feeling of confidence greater than what I had, and hiding my insecurities so that no one would ever be able to really affect me. Those defenses limited me in relationships. I couldn’t be fully honest with a girl because I wasn’t ready to reveal my true self. I feared that she might misuse the knowledge to hurt me. Who, after all, deserved to have the ultimate power of knowing what drives me, what desires and fears move me on the deepest level?

In my last relationship, I finally realized the importance of allowing yourself to become vulnerable. As uncomfortable as it can be to tell someone the things you are self-conscious about, doing so is the only way to demonstrate real trust of your significant other. Giving them that special insight into who you are is the final ingredient to falling in love.

I did not realize I was in love until I got “figured out”: until someone was able to tell me what I was feeling even when I didn’t quite realize it, and wanted to cater to my inmost needs simply because she cared about making me feel more complete.

I can’t say what exactly brought the importance of vulnerability in a relationship to the forefront of my mind. It may have been the natural result of growing older and desiring real companionship free of pretense. Or, perhaps I realized that I was slipping too far into a programmed adult life and needed to return to the openness of childhood. But regardless, the feeling of being able to believe in love has given me much more to look forward to in life.

9 Comments

Posted by angil on 09/14 at 05:55 PM

i love someone i know him but idont think that he knows about me becausehe is afamouse guy.i heat to be famouse because you cant love as normal people.i just want to forget him because he won’t ever knows about me so i want you to till me the anser or the secret of how can i forget about him

Posted by K on 11/02 at 10:26 AM

beautiful.

Posted by good2go on 11/24 at 09:49 PM

What would it take to let the guard down? To deprogram from the parental program and release the fear into the depths of love? Love sat beside me once, and took a leave. I thought it wasn’t in the program, but the program was out of my control. You cannot control TOD, it’s not our call. So I wait again to feel the need to release into the fear of love.

Posted by Paula on 01/28 at 09:21 PM

After 2 failed marriages and much soul searching, I know more about myself now, than I ever did before. I think you have to be able to love YOURSELF, before you are truly capable of loving someone else romantically. I hate to admit it to myself, but I didn’t “love myself” before, but I let my vulnerability show..with disaterous results. You should let your vulnerability show by all means, but also learn to love yourself, be happy with who you are as a person. It took me a while, but I believe I’m finally in the right place with myself, lol. True happiness (in love and everything else) comes from within, not from the person standing next to you. If you can grasp that, you will know what true love is all about smile

Posted by Meranda Leon on 03/06 at 07:34 PM

i love a 14 year old and he knows me so should i tell him i like him

Posted by Laura on 05/10 at 10:55 PM

This is really sweet! I was directed here from (http://www.cartoondollemporium.com/lovequotes.html). I’m glad to hear someone else saying some of the things I think to myself time to time-- particularly that relationships with others are related to your relationship with yourself. Very true!

Going to browse the area some more! Just wanted to leave you a note to say I liked what you have to say.

Posted by yy on 06/12 at 03:42 AM

I loved someone when i was in junior high school .But i was so shy .So i never told him about my feeling .When a girl showed her love to him .I felt painful in heart.Now i feel better.I think this is my first love.

Posted by Monmon on 06/24 at 07:13 AM

I got a strong feelings that I am suffering from a serious bad luck in my love relationship. Hence, whenever , I love a man and he also loves and we planned to go on for a reason or another our relation never compelete.:(

Posted by scio amo on 10/22 at 04:40 PM

maybe we can only truely love someone who has broken us down, seen through the vulnerability, and then picked up the pieces and healed us
there was a time i thought i could retreat into myself, its still what i most often do...but theres always someone/something to retreat to..and so, dunno, maybe theres no retreat at all
x-p
unto every child his fantasy friend..lolz
but woe to he (pauvre moi) who needs one all the time
(to be said with an oldtestamentish look :p

Posted by monash on 01/01 at 11:43 PM

Your post hits it right on the nail, I couldn’t agree more with you. As you grow wiser, you learn what is needed to be truly authentic in a love relationship. Its also important to recognize true happiness lies within; so when you are secure with yourself, you know where you are going in life, you have interests and hobbies and develop yourself from the inside out, and have done your inner work - its then really when you are strong enough for love. And that is when you can have the courage to be vulnerable, regardless of what has happened in past relationships. I had my vulnerability taken advantage of in a previous relationship that was abusive and based on deception. But I have learned from it, and I think its really important to stay open as well because there is no other way to get what you really need, in true love.

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