6 Reasons Why Being Vulnerable Will Make You Strong

Everything you want is on the other side of fear

Simply we can tell vulnerability as deliberately putting ourselves in a position that hurts us.

We all are vulnerable creatures by birth but we always wrongly misinterpret vulnerability as a weakness and avoid being vulnerable.

You think being judged by others will low your self-esteem and this thought will obviously hurt you. So you avoid doing things that might be judged by others.

You think failure makes you weak and weakness hurts you. So you avoid taking up challenging tasks that might fail.

A lot of people think that not being vulnerable makes them tough and resilient but in reality, they are losing the capability to handle uncertainties, discomfort, and being adaptable to any situation.

During my school and college days, I avoided taking part in stage speeches and other stage performances.

I thought What people will think if I stammer in between the speech? What if the audience didn’t like my speech?

Fear of being judged by others.

So I avoided situations that push me into a discomfort zone thus I failed to foster confidence within me.

Due to the lack of confidence even though I studied in an English medium school, I was not able to communicate better in English.

I failed in many job interviews due to a lack of confidence and communication skills and my growth became stagnate.

It took several years for me to realize the truth that being vulnerable will make me strong. And slowly I started to do things I’m afraid of, the things I don’t know, the things that discomfort me.

One abstract advice that I can give is only if you are vulnerable you can get what you want.

Everything you want is on the other side of fear

- Jack Canfield

Many don’t know how being vulnerable will make them strong and I feel that’s why they avoid being vulnerable. There are seven reasons which convince you that vulnerability is not weakness rather it is strength.

Makes you trustworthy

Gaining the trust of others is really difficult.

From business to relationship everything requires trust.

Only when people trust you they do business with you and they buy products from you. Whatever the relationship might be, it blossoms only when you are true to your relation.

The only way to gain trust is by being vulnerable. If you are vulnerable you will let your real character know to others by being open and transparent. When you have nothing to hide from others then you become authentic.

Authenticity is the one quality that makes others strongly believe you.

Millions of people followed Mahatma Gandhi because he is authentic.

Authenticity made Amazon the top e-commerce store in the world.

Being authentic creates a strong bond between any relationships.

And this is what makes you real.

Will liberate you from fear

We fear for almost everything in our life.

Fear of being judged by others, fear of losing money or loved ones, fear of losing the job or career, fear of failure, fear of the unknown, etc.

Because of the thought that fear will hurt us, we often try to avoid things that cause fear and that is why we don’t opt for challenges in life.

You should first realize the truth that life is not going to be a bed of roses always and it is a mix of good, bad, comfort, discomfort, success, and failures. So be open to uncertainties, be vulnerable.

When you are vulnerable you will deliberately opt for challenges in life. Only if you are open to challenges then you will be opened to opportunities.

Vulnerability is what made Warren Buffet take risks and invest money even though he had the fear of losing money or business.

Being vulnerable is what made Elon Musk work towards his dream to send people to mars even though he had the fear of failure.

This is what makes every entrepreneur leave their 9 to 5 jobs and concentrate on their dream projects even though they had the fear of losing their career.

And this is what will liberate you from every other fear.

You will be admired

Life is full of ups and downs. Everyone has to struggle with their own problems and find ways to solve them.

When you are open about your scars and failures with others, it will be helpful for them to relate their life situation with yours.

Successful people often inspire others by letting others know their own struggles and different strategies they have used to come out of those struggles.

And that is why many popular writers write about the struggles they faced in their life and also about how they have overcome those painful days. This openness made them real, admirable, and easily connect with the readers.

Moreover, no one is perfect in this world, everyone does mistakes but only a few have the guts to accept their mistake and apologies if required. This gut is the vulnerability that separates a normal person from a leader.

When you become such a leader then you are admired for all your actions.

You become approachable

A lot of people are building a virtual concrete wall around them and not letting their emotions know to others.

They think that not showing their emotions out makes them emotionally strong but they don’t know that keeping all their emotions inside will explode one day and this makes them emotionally unstable.

You will be emotionally strong only when you let your emotions out.

You should be able to cry with people and as well as able to laugh with them, able to say sorry if you hurt others, able to share your good and bad with others, and able to ask for help when required.

Emotionally being open is the one quality that makes people connect with you easily and this is the key to build any relationships. When you can easily connect with others then you are easily approachable too.

Makes you courageous

When you are able to do something that scares you then you are courageous.

Courage is not facing the situation without any fear instead, courage is facing the situation despite fear.

If you want to be courageous then you should be vulnerable first which means deliberately putting yourself to do the things that scare you.

So there is no courage without vulnerability.

Being courageous in day to day life is important.

I was always a silent guy who hesitate to express my opinion in any discussion or meeting because of the thought that my opinion might be wrong.

Fear of being wrong.

Even though I do hard work, I hang back from asking for a raise or promotion to my boss because I thought my boss might reject my request.

Fear of being rejected.

I often scare to take tough decisions and avoid to stay in tough conversations because I believed it might push me into trouble.

Fear of handling tough situations.

These fears restricted me from seeing outside of my boundaries and I later realized that these fears won’t let me grow as a person.

Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day.

I started to consume more self-development materials like articles, books, and videos and slowly started to apply the lessons learned in my life.

I understood that being vulnerable is nothing but being yourself. And I would say this shift in my mindset is a huge shift in my life too.

Even though I scared to open up in meetings, I deliberately expressed my opinions no matter it is right or wrong. I dared to speak with my boss about my promotion though I have fear of being rejected.

Being vulnerable made me courageous enough to handle tough situations wholeheartedly in my daily life.

You can be innovative

Trying new ideas and learning from your mistakes generates innovativeness.

But many people avoid trying new ideas because they feel insecure. They often get distracted by the thought that trying new things might cause a failure that might mentally hurt them.

There are other sets of people who keep their mistakes hidden and avoid the feelings of shame and guilt that come with failure.

Trying something new might fail, might pave way for others to criticize me or even I may feel ashamed. But I am not going to miss the opportunity to learn from my failure and mistakes. This is the realization you should foster always.

The value of failures and mistakes is always underrated and vulnerability is the only way for you to realize the truth that failures and mistakes are the sources of learning new to innovate new.

Thomas Alva Edison is the best example to show how being vulnerable to failures paved way for the great innovations.

You must learn to fail intelligently. Failing is one of the greatest arts in the world. One fails forward towards success.

— Thomas Alva Edison

Final Thoughts

When you are vulnerable then you could be courageous, authentic, emotionally stable, easily approachable, innovative, and admirable.

I would say vulnerability is a keystone habit that automatically triggers other good habits which leads to multiple positive behaviors and positive effects in your life.

It is more important to know who we are than what knowledge we acquire. Vulnerability makes us understand who we are in reality.

So accept vulnerability as your key value and practice being vulnerable in your day to day life.