Vulnerability: The Gift of Being Seen

Mars Hill, NC/Photography by Gaye Abbott/April 20, 2025

“There is a quiet kind of strength in choosing to be seen — fully, honestly, without the armour. Vulnerability isn’t weakness — it’s the wild, trembling courage of being real, of letting others witness the parts of us we usually keep hidden. And in doing so, we begin to gather up the forgotten pieces of ourselves.” Reflections of Life

As the years accumulate at some point we start recognizing that we have entered the last part of our embodied lives. This often comes with a feeling of great vulnerability as passing the mid-point there are now more years we have lived than to be lived.

It all becomes so very precious.

Especially when so many people around you, or you yourself, are facing life threatening or quality of life challenges and loss of independence. It puts everything in perspective. The willingness to reveal “the raw, unguarded places where we finally let ourselves be known” allows a depth of surrender into each day with our whole selves – no masks or hiding allowed.

Friendships, partnerships, family and community become a vital support network upon which we rely more and more.

Not only are we asked to reveal our personal vulnerability and let our guard, defenses and self judgement go, but we also must live with how the very earth that supports our well being is critically vulnerable because of human interference to the natural way of life.

In this last week a beloved 63-year-old friend of mine texted me that a recent breast biopsy she had revealed invasive ductal carcinoma. I was devastated, for her, and the impact this would have on our friendship. It also took me back into the grief I felt several years ago now with another dear woman friend who passed away from Stage 4 breast cancer and experienced great pain and trauma before she died.

I want to be able to hold my current friend and weep with her but that is not her way….yet. There is so much information to gather and testing to be done before a clear pathway will present itself to her. Before the impact reveals itself. She is not ready to expose her vulnerability to me yet, and subsequently I hold off from sharing mine. Instead I wonder what is the “right way” to be with her when she does reach out. I trust I will know when the time comes and simply listen.

It is in these moments where we allow ourselves to be seen fully that we finally get a glimpse of who we are and why we are here…experiencing the glory of being alive with all the pain….and all of the love, joy and beauty.

“There is a quiet kind of strength in choosing to be seen — fully, honestly, without the armour. Vulnerability isn’t weakness — it’s the wild, trembling courage of being real, of letting others witness the parts of us we usually keep hidden. And in doing so, we begin to gather up the forgotten pieces of ourselves.

In those tender moments of openness, something begins to shift. We stop holding our breath. We find ourselves softening into the present, no longer bracing against life but moving with it. Being human is not about flawlessness, but about presence — about showing up, cracked and luminous, for whatever the day brings. The cracks let the light in, yes — but they also let us out, more whole, more alive, more deeply connected to what truly matters. This is where the real beauty lives — not in the polished edges, but in the raw, unguarded places where we finally let ourselves be known.”

Featuring Jane Kennedy

Filmed in Sedgefield, South Africa. Support Reflections of Life in creating more films like this : http://www.patreon.com/reflectionsoflife

Thank you. Justine & Michael 💚

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Gaye Abbott, Wildly Free Elder, 05/05/25