Humans are infinetly selfish beings. We live confined to our own brains, which allow us to experience the world. We love ourselves in love and hate ourselves in hate - we are judgemental, we are irrational, we lay burdened by our own experience, our own prejudice, our own stigma.
We are scarred by these experiences (good and bad), bruised by our own egos. Unflinching in our stubborn ways there seems to be no respite in the confines of our heads. We live alone - in the quiet corners of the amygdala where only we can see our doubts and fears and insecurities.
But what happens when we start to care about other people? When we open our minds and take on someone elses experiences, and burdens, and grief. What happens when we break down the bars we put up to protect ourselves, when we choose to say. “I know you will disappoint me…” (because it’s in our nature to disappoint) “but I love you anyway.”
We begin seeing ourselves differently. We begin seeing the world differently. Vulnerability becomes our strength and refuge, in the hopes that, if others can muscle up the courage to tear down their walls too, to trust in someone other than themselves, we can lighten each others loads. We can share our burdens and grief and joy and passion and human experience. And in a world of lonely people, we can choose not to live alone.
