The gift of vulnerability

I don't know anyone who consciously believes that they are perfect, no one who genuinely thinks they've got themselves all sorted out. We all know that we have areas of weakness and that we make mistakes sometimes, and we are aware that other people do too... But despite this communal awareness of imperfection, we have a culture that is saturated with messages of perfection and it leads us to hide our weakness, to feel shame about mistakes.

And so we don't talk about it. We put our best side forward and act like we know what we're doing.

But what I'm realising is that when I do that, it does more damage than I knew.
It works like this...
When I hide and feel shame about my own weakness and inability to measure up, then I will inevitably communicate the message that in order to be accepted by me, other people must treat their own brokenness in the same way. 
We know this from experience. You trust the people who are honest about the hard stuff and you feel like you can be real with them. Why is this?
It's because with their vulnerability, they've communicated the message that weakness and struggle are an accepted part of this relationship.

People who are honest and accepting of their own weaknesses create around them a space in which it is safe for other to do the same. And in a world where from a very young age people are taught the language of shame, they're taught that they need to appear strong and competent... then to offer the gift of imperfection and weakness is priceless.