As cheesy as it sounds, what the world needs now is love.
I've been feeling more sensitive lately. Things have been touching me on a super emotional level—and this can sometimes be a bad thing—but this is also something that adds complexity to my emotions. I feel so much closer to others. When someone says something to me I feel it with every cell of my body. They will compliment me and I can physically feel my mood growing warmer and red. Or someone will insult me and I will feel sick and small.
All of us have this sensitivity in us. Most of us spend our days trying to crush it out of us. But what we don't realize is that what this sensitivity craves is connection and kindness. And the second we crush out this sensitivity, the second we destroy our ability to put a magnifying glass to our mood. When we embrace sensitivity, we can feel wrapped in someone’s soul like a blanket when they talk to us. Being sensitive allows me to analyze every nuance of someone’s words that are directed to me. It allows me to feel what others are feeling. I become a super-empath of sorts.
This sensitivity is debilitating in the fact that criticism feels like a scalpel under my bones but I am gracious for being able to understand how others feel.
Kindness is so empowering. I cry thinking about kindness. I am so close to crying at all times now but in a good way. Someone says something to me that is even the slightest bit kind—but always seemingly genuine—and my brain swells with positivity. It’s so cheesy.
Sometimes I feel like Mr. Rogers--a wise old man who people sometimes make fun of for being so idealistic and sentimental. I’m always spouting these thoughts about “what if everyone in the world just got along?” and then I’m crying because “why can’t everyone in the world just get along?” And I’m worried because I don’t understand how people can’t crave peace and love and happiness and all those super cheesy ideals that every song on the radio is about.
This is what we all need right now—connection. We can’t have the physical intimacy we once had. And by intimacy I mean the little things, like someone brushing your hair, or holding hands with a friend as you walk down the street, or having someone put their arm around you and relaxing your head into their chest. So we need to focus on emotional intimacy—the bonds we can grow with friends and strangers, simply by being genuine and true, and learning about them honestly.
“You know, when I think of people, when I think of my friends, everyone I know and everybody else, I think of how different we all are. And yet there are some things about us that are the same. We each have a body and we each have feelings and in some ways just by being a human being each one of us is very fancy.” That is what Mr. Rogers says at the end of “It’s You I Like”. And it’s true. We are bonded by both our similarities and our differences. But these days everyone focuses on our differences, and sees them as reasons to isolate and alienate one another rather than to understand and be curious and learn about the world.
I don’t like living in a world that looks down upon people who are different. I feel like so many people want everyone to be the same. But we’re already similar to one another; we all have some sort of common ground; but you don’t have to become a blank canvas in order to relate to someone.
Vulnerability is what is going to unite the world. Vulnerability is what is going to connect us. We all need to come forward and be honest about what we’re truly feeling. And then that judgment and stigma about emotions will dissipate. If we’re all out on the battlefield of life rather than judging from the sidelines, we’re all on even ground. So the preteen playing video games in the basement who uses anger and aggression to cover up his depression will be able to have a voice that’s not used simply for hatred. Or the mega-boss perfectionist control-freak CEO who seems like they have their whole life together will be able to show that they’re as imperfect as the rest of us. If we can just tear down these boundaries…
I know this sounds like a load of BS. It’s really super cheesy, and you might be thinking that I am a massive hippie (this is pretty accurate). But it’s true.
So what are your stories? What makes you special? What connects you to the rest of us? I want to hear what you have to say. I want to embrace you emotionally. I want to know your feelings.
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