You can hear the advice all the time that you need to “put yourself out there,” “be vulnerable,” “be a friend to gain a friend,” or anything along those lines. But it is only when you actually do it that you get that vital validation that its really true. It really works.
However small the action, when we open ourselves up to trying something new or being vulnerable enough to meet new people – even though taking that risk that feels so scary to look silly or weird or wrong – what we will typically find out is, we won’t die! We will get through that discomfort and come out the other side with a bit of a rush of adrenaline and endorphins.
When we find the courage to be open and human and willing to participate in the world, what we gain in connection and experiences is invaluable. Even if the outcome is ” Uh, yeah no, I don’t wanna do that again!” we still now know something about ourselves that we didn’t know before. But the more likely outcome is that we grew, we connected, and we gained even more capacity to live fully.