I am the type of person who wears my heart on my sleeve. If I have had a good day, you'll know it. If my day has been bad, you'll know it. Has this quality always been useful? Not necessarily, but it has taught me a lot about myself and a lot about the people around me.

Some people would say that it is harder to put walls up, and that it's harder to keep people out, but in reality what is hard is letting them in. Especially after being let down so many times. Being vulnerable can feel like a death wish, sometimes, but at the end of the day I'm so glad that I am.

I take pride in the fact that I can sit down, assess my feelings and live with them

I could be quiet and reserved. I could hide behind fortified walls of concrete and resentment, and laugh as people tried to scale them. I could spend hundreds of nights making eyes at boys who don't care; I really could. It would be easy. If I let what happened to me in the past affect my future, that is what it would look like. It wouldn't be full of all the love and good things it's full of right now.

I wouldn't have amazing friends, or a wonderful boyfriend. I wouldn't be close to my mom or my sister, and making new friends wouldn't be a thing. I wouldn't be writing this, or laying in my new bed in my new apartment if I chose the other path.

I don't think that just because you aren't vulnerable that you can't be happy. Unfortunately, I know many closed-off people that are happy, but they constantly struggle with it. They have a hard time sorting and dealing with their feelings. They stop themselves from truly experiencing new things, or they continuously second-guess how they feel and never learn to trust their instincts.

At the end of the day, it is hard to let people in. It is hard to throw caution to the wind and love people. It is hard to trust after people have broken it so many times before. It's hard to start over with someone new. It is hard to forget all the nights spent crying or all of the rejection -- you can get very hurt by being vulnerable. People will sometimes take advantage of you and it sucks, but at the same time it is hard to keep all of those feelings and thoughts locked inside. It may seem less harmful to keep people out, but in the long run, it is the people who keep others out that end up hurting. I promise that in the short term it seems easier to keep things tucked away inside, but in the long run it will tear you apart.

Life shouldn't be about what's easy or what's hard; it should be what is the most meaningful. What did you spend your time doing? Were you learning new things, loving someone, or working towards your passions? Or did you shut everyone out and miss out on all these opportunities? I'm not saying to drop everything and open up right this second, but I wholeheartedly think that we all need to try to be a little more vulnerable.