Meet others through your most laid bare self.

Do you march through life stoically, your heart neatly sealed, safe from the joys and sorrows of life?

When I walked into a training hall of 30 students, who sat far away from each other, I felt the energy of fear. I was also projecting my own. Since our last class four months ago, due to COVID -19 crisis, I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how to connect with them.

“I’m scared of these hard times, ” I shared my deepest fear.

The moment I bared my soul in front of my students, I felt the energy of fear disappearing. Like a host of sinister bats leaving a subterranean cave at night.

When you open yourself up with a room full of people, it leads to vulnerability, then to strength through connection.

The vulnerable moment happens to all of us – it will happen to all of us. What do we do when it does?

Right now, vulnerability is a state most of us share.

COVID-19 makes us vulnerable – whether we are the sick, careers for the sick, or those who might become sick.

It makes us vulnerable in emotional ways too, whether through loneliness or lack of time and space alone, stagnation or rumination, avoidance or confrontation.

Our experiences differ in both specifics and intensity, but right now vulnerability is a state most of us share.

No struggle is unknown. We’re all living parallel stories of grief and love and loss.

When you hurt, endure illness, a heartbreak, or a disappointment, it feels like you’re alone, like you’re the only person who struggles this way.

But you’re not alone, my friend.

Every time people poured their hearts out to me in person, it’s the story of all of us. It’s the reminder and the constant. The foundation of a strong human connection.

It’s where I found myself again and found light in others where it barely flickered.

When you choose to be vulnerable, chances are, people will find comfort – because more often than you realize, they struggle too.

The world is filled with people who feel isolated.

They unlock their hearts in the dark and worry about their future, doubts, fears, hopes, and dreams.

Every time they close their hearts, they think they’re safe. But they instead shut out air and light and the indispensable ability to connect with another human being.

Choosing not to be vulnerable is dangerous. It means sentencing yourself to a life of isolation, even when loved ones surround you.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

When we meet each other in vulnerable moments, we arrive at new understandings.

Behind your fears are thousands of people feeling the exact same feeling.

Anguish shattered someone else’s heart in the world just like it shattered yours for losing a loved one.

The heartbreak you endured when someone you loved broke your heart is someone else’s terrible future.

Your path seems so separate, so distant. And yet, it overlaps many times over with others.

We hurt. We love. We lose a loved one. We suffer. We triumph against odds.

Choosing to be vulnerable helps people in ways you never imagine. Your hurt can mend their pain. Sharing you failed under the best circumstances can ease their regret. Your improbable success can be their hope.

We all experience so much of the same but still feel so different. Everyone has a story. Share yours.

You connect in a powerful way when you share your unvarnished human experiences. When you meet others through your most laid bare self, you converse with others without the typical prejudices and preformed assumptions.

With vulnerability comes the possibility of change. When we meet each other in these moments, relationships evolve. We evolve too, often in ways we don’t even register until later.

These transformations take any form. Friendships. Meaningful relationships. Subtle changes in how we move through the world.

That’s the power of vulnerability. You strengthen the ties that bind us together by choosing to bare your soul.

Let someone kiss your tears away. Open your heart. Be vulnerable. Feel those terrifying emotions – even if that means getting hurt. Break the walls you’ve built around your closed heart.

We can be brave. We can admit to the fear, sadness, and pain we all feel. And we can strengthen each other without judgment.

To strengthen human connection, bare that beating, blood-red heart of yours in more ways than you can imagine.

To your Inspirations,

Banchi