I always show vulnerability to strangers

This is why you should too.

Photo by @nealk on Unsplash

I’ll greet you with an enormous smile, because I’m naturally happy.

I’ll say my name and answer everything you have to ask. No walls, no taboos.

I’ll tell you all about my biggest passions and my deepest desires, echoing conversations you have with your sister at 2am. I’ll share my traumas and you’ll share yours, if you’re brave enough. Then, we’ll both part ways.

I hope you don’t get your heart broken by that. I hope you won’t even feel sad by seeing such an intimate friend leave, maybe never to meet each other again. I hope you won’t get confused at how someone can open up so raw and willingly, without high walls or wondering why you would open up to someone you’re only sharing brief moments of your life with.

I, in return, promise to make such a big an impact as possible. I’ll condense my life experience in a nutshell and share my current struggles with you. Maybe you’ll put my mind at ease over the guy who has just broke my heart? Maybe I’ll be the one you finally decide to listen when she tells you you’re just being too hard on yourself? It has to be true, right? Coming from a stranger. Or are we? Strangers.

“What happened to the pre-conceived notion of slowly getting to know someone — you ask — going from strangers, to acquaintances, to friends and finally, to best friends?” I’m not throwing that notion out the window, that’s still the way 99.9% of my relationships happen. Once in a while, though, someone plays a trick on me and I’m offered the unique chance of getting awfully close to a stranger. Some people just don’t have enough time. Some people are just naturally adventurous and hold nothing back.

Will you match my adventurous side with your courageous side? Getting fond of me, only to say goodbye yet so soon. Time will be ticking, so I hope you will.

“What if I’m not going away?” you ask. “Will you take it slow?”

As that beautiful quote goes, “The trouble is, you think you have time.”

Chances are I’m not dying anytime soon and maybe you’re even a friend of a friend. Still, I’ll enjoy this moment for what it is: a fleeting best-friend-like moment I get to share with you. I get to share your present and you get to share mine.

I’ll leave our meeting having met one more person and, if luck shall have it, inspired by another fascinating being I have encountered. Reminded that each one of us is facing its own struggles, I hope you won’t hesitate so much next time you get the chance to truly connect with someone.

They might be going away soon. This should propel you to enjoy it more; not less.

***

Imagine now that, as it turns out, we have a possible friendship ahead. I used to be the kind of person that would think “We have so many common interests! And we get along so awfully well! We clearly have everything to be best friends!”. Then, for some reason, life doesn’t turn out that way and we don’t connect…but I bet that “If I just try harder…I’ll make it happen!”

Relationships (romantic or not) are meant to be the climax of building a bridge. If you’re failing to meet in the middle, however, this is you might be missing:

1) If you like to feel in control, you might be tempted to control how your relationships with people pans out.

2) Don’t ask of someone more than they can give

3) Everything in our lives takes mental energy. It is ok if someone requires their mental energy somewhere else.

4) Some people just open up too fast, too quickly. If you strive for enjoying them for what they have to offer, I doubt you will regret it. However, keep in mind: they don’t owe your anything.

It’s not up to you to decided whether or not you should be something more with someone. Everyone is making sure their priorities are being taken care off. Just be grateful that some kind people will always remember you. In the meantime, feel free to enjoy feeling best-friend-like connections with strangers and acquaintances that may thread your path.