Do you think in terms of a relationship being vulnerable is a weakness or a surrendering of oneself to another? Do find it scary to let the other person in your life and your heart? Beyond small talk and fun conversation, would you let yourself ever reveal it's true nature?

Showing vulnerability to the one I love shows her I trust her. And trust is a big deal in any relationship: in my opinion, it is the foundation. It is scary as hell, but the rewards can be enormous, and I try to think in the positive that can come from it. The only way for a person you love to understand you fully, is by revealing the true nature of all your issues and insecurities, your strengths and weaknesses.

It is a difficult road, but a rewarding one.

I agree with this and will further add that when one partner holds back a piece of themself in a relationship it creates a division instead of unity.
One can unknowingly hurt someone because they were not aware of a situation.
To give you an example, someone I was dating once had a mother who had passed away when he was in his teenage years. But didn't always share things with me.
It was mother's day. My mom was out of town so he and I were spending the day. He had talked about how he sometimes missed his mom. So I picked up some white flowers thinking we could visit his mom at the cemetery and then go on our outing.
I didn't know for the most part he'd had a terrible relationship with his mom.
Instead of it being a kind gesture, it pissed him off. We had a huge argument and each went to chill elsewhere that day.
So not sharing your vulnerability can produce unexpected problems

To me, vulnerability is a certain level of weakness already existing in the walls of security we erect around our hearts that can be easily breached by someone who we allow to get a close up and personal view of us and how we are in our private lives.



No. The only reason I would fear letting someone in is if I had something to hide that might scare them off if revealed. But, if I live my life like an open book with flaws and all exposed so anyone interested enough to see can read me and they still want to be with me, so much the better.



I don't think people can keep up fronts long term. So if we're in a relationship for any length of time the real us is going to eventually surface. Better sooner than later as far as I'm concerned.

Being open and honest is the best policy, but seems to be a difficult policy to keep. And on your third point, I get that. I remember a phrase that said, "you can lie to some people some of the time but not all people all the time."

I have also seen this happened because of "secrets" that I was later told "did not want to hurt you" as an excuse. My response was, "if you don't want to hurt me, always be open and honest. Tell me the truth when it happens. Ten years later is just not helpful to anyone except helping yourself." The person did not understand this.

I really like this.

Trust is something that is earned over time.
You don't reveal private stuff to another as soon as you meet the other.

Awwwwwwwe...

Just don't call me "nice" or "sweet" and you could use it, provided I receive credit and payment in Oreo cookies. Chocolate chip cookies if you cannot find Oreos.

Nothing worth doing in life is always easy. But we do the best we can even if/when making mistakes and we keep moving forward rather than retracing our steps and wallowing in recriminations.

To me, being vulnerable to another person's feelings and opinions implies that we have some level of connection where they are equally as vulnerable to mine and any level of trepidation we might feel with full disclosure is mutual.

Also, I find openness and honesty to be a much better way to communicate with those who matter to me. To those who don't, I am free to be selective about what I reveal and when, if anything.

No. I'm just fed up of boyband lookalikes contacting me. They seem to think a shirtless pic will impress me.