Perfect Imbalance

A friend and I had a conversation this evening about relationships and the emotional complications that surface at different intervals in them. While she has minimal dating familiarity due to a long term relationship, I have an extensive dating background and minimal experience with lengthy commitment.

Although she can entertain the romanticism of butterflies and indulge in a blind faith attitude to trust someone new, the end result is still uncertainty. I am the complete opposite and immediately become skeptical if someone seems too good to be true. I have been infinitely hurt and the outcome is an acrid approach to the opposite sex and a coat of armor around my heart thicker than Europe’s Iron Curtain at the close of World War II.

We both try to not hold past relationship history against new prospects on our horizons, but in our own individual way we still maintain a bit of guardedness when it is time to open up. While she allows a man into her heart with pure optimism in a new beginning, I immediately put up a barricade. I may have genuine emotional attachment for this new prospect, yet I behave as though I am unaffected by their kindness out of fear of being hurt again.

How do we find the balance in protecting our hearts while still allowing hope to lead us down the right path? How can one female grasp more caution while the other learns to be more trusting? How does she protect herself from unnecessary pain? How do I attain faith in finding a loving relationship? How do we find compromise and allow ourselves to be vulnerable, yet still protect our souls? How do we sift through the emotional propaganda and allow ourselves to be loved?