Wearing your heart on your sleeve may not be an easy path to follow in life, but stop trying to be someone you’re not and just roll with it.
Some of us were just born more tender and open about our feelings than others. Being a highly sensitive person can be both a blessing and a curse. But instead of seeing your vulnerability and openness to others as a weakness, there are ways to see the silver lining in your personality style.
Rather than attempting to stop being someone or something that you are *which is nearly impossible, anyway*, try to find solace in being wholly you. Learning to love ourselves is the only way to make it through this world.
Why you should wear your heart on your sleeve
Sometimes being vulnerable gains you much more in life than being closed and guarded. Here are the top 12 reasons why you should embrace wearing your heart on your sleeve!
#1 If you don’t experience pain, you’ll never know what pleasure is. The highly sensitive person may feel pain more intensely, but in the reverse, we feel delight in a way that no one ever can. Since the pendulum swings both ways, you get the highest of both peaks and valleys. If you don’t put yourself out there, you may never get hurt, but you also wouldn’t ever be able to feel pure joy.
#2 Your time on earth is more meaningful. Although debatable, those who wear their heart on their sleeve tend to live a more meaningful life. Humans were put here to make connections. If we weren’t, then we wouldn’t have been given the skills to communicate, nor would we need one another for survival. When you make yourself vulnerable, you are living life to the fullest and finding meaning in reaching out to others. [Read: How to make a relationship work for the better]
#3 You take more chances. If you are always being guarded and suspicious without putting it all out there, then you will probably never take the same chances as someone who can make themselves vulnerable. Someone who wears their heart on their sleeve is comfortable with voicing their feelings.
You have to be willing to get hurt to put yourself out there; otherwise, taking chances is nearly impossible. By wearing your heart on your sleeve, you don’t stop yourself from what you want. Instead, you give it your all.
#4 People trust you. If you are someone who wears your heart on your sleeve, the people around you most likely know that when you are saying something, you are being honest. Saying what you mean and meaning what you say is the motto that you live by. Rather than just saying things to make people feel good, you say them because you mean them and are okay with being true to yourself and to others. This quality builds trust with those around you and puts strangers at ease. [Read: How to build trust in a relationship]
#5 You are a good friend. If you put your vulnerability out there, you’re probably always there for other people. Having a high sense of empathy, you understand what people are going through. Since you have likely run every gamut of emotions possible, it makes you a good sounding board and someone who can put yourself into someone else’s shoes and help them through the tough hurdles in life.
#6 You will excel at certain careers. Sure, you may not be the best CEO on the block, but in the careers that you are likely to seek out, you are going to excel specifically for the talents that you possess.
Although not many people think of wearing their heart on their sleeve as a talent, it is. Not everyone is capable of allowing themselves to be vulnerable and experience life to the fullest. That is not a weakness, but a strength, especially in managerial positions where understanding and empathy are important. [Read: How to stop being jealous of someone else’s success]
#7 You never have to worry if the right one passed you by. When you are guarded in a relationship and try to protect yourself, you can sometimes make rash decisions to end things when they get too up-close and personal.
A person who puts themselves out there without fear, on the other hand, never has to worry if they’ve allowed the right one to pass them by simply because they couldn’t be vulnerable. To be in a relationship, you have to be able to give of yourself and to open your heart, no matter how much losing love might cost.
#8 You have more persistence. Someone who wears their heart on their sleeve is more apt to continue to try to hold a relationship together. There are times when someone who is vulnerable can see things that others can’t.
When someone hurts your feelings, you can put it into perspective and see that people sometimes react out of fear and say things that they don’t mean. Since you are capable of forgiving yourself for being too sensitive, you are more willing to do the same for others. That gives you more persistence to work through things that may not be comfortable. [Read: Should you forgive and forget? 15 guidelines to follow]
#9 You know what you want right away. The best part about putting yourself out there is that you know right away what you want. Because feelings are nothing new to you and you have lived a lifetime of learning to navigate those emotions, you aren’t stuck trying to figure things out.
#10 You are more intuitive. Highly sensitive individuals have a heightened sense of intuitiveness. They can see things that others can’t. Like a foreseer with psychic abilities, someone who wears their heart on their sleeve can spot bullshit a mile away. They can also tell when someone is not being genuine.
#11 You find the diamond in the rough. People who allow themselves to be more vulnerable can find the diamond in the rough. They are often the ones who stay to the end to see how things go, or work through problems with people when others have given up. [Read: How to fix a relationship that’s falling apart]
#12 You can get past the hurt quicker. Because you have put yourself out there so many times, being hurt comes with the territory. Someone who wears their heart on their sleeve can usually move on much quicker than others. Not holding a grudge or deciding to toughen up and not let the next person in, they aren’t usually affected as intensely by the fallout of a relationship. [Read: Rebound relationships and why they’re good for you]
Sometimes things that seem to deficit us are the very things that make us as spectacular as we are. Instead of trying to protect yourself and take that heart and put it back in your chest where you think it belongs, think of all the benefits you are gaining from being true to yourself and around you by wearing your heart on your sleeve.
