As human beings, we all share some of the same deep longings—we want to be seen and known for who we are, and we want to be loved as we are. Some of us are more aware of those desires than others, but all of us have them. It's part of what it means to be human.

I'm not always consciously aware of these sorts of desires in my own life, but all it takes is a moment of honest self-reflection to reveal their constant presence behind so many of the things that I do.

As it turns out, at least for most of us, our greatest desires can also be our greatest fears.

Somewhere in the back of our minds we wonder what would happen if people actually did see us and know us for who we really are. Would they still love us? Could they still love us?

So many of us have, at some point along the way, opened ourselves up only to be shut-down, criticized or missed altogether by the people we've entrusted with those vulnerable glimpses of who we truly are.

So we hide, burying our true selves, adopting masks and adding protective layers over our hearts.

Eventually, hiding becomes so second nature that we don't even know we're doing it.

Most of us go through life completely unaware of our woundedness, but it's there. None of us make it out of childhood unscathed, and we certainly don't get through adolescence without our fair share of scars either.

But when we're unaware of those wounds, the baggage only piles up behind us over time. As it builds up, it drags us down as we lug it through life, bringing it into friendships, romantic relationships and even work environments.

As good as we are at hiding our true selves, we can't conceal the baggage that we've hidden behind; we're very aware of each other's faults even if we're blind to our own.

We get complacent, living out of fear and keeping people at arm's length without ever realizing that things could be different.

I don't know about you, but that's not the kind of life I want to live.

My deepest desires are to be seen, known and loved for who I am, and if those deepest desires are also my greatest fears, then so be it, I will face them because that's the only way to overcome them.

Let's start seeing our baggage for what it is, stop pretending we've got it all together and acknowledge the fact that we all have brokenness in our lives.

Better yet, let's either find or found communities where we can be broken together, where we can see and be seen, know and be known, love and be loved.

I'm still broken, I still hide and I'm still afraid at times, but I'm no longer a slave to fear, and you don't have to be either.

If you find the right people to start being yourself in front of, it can change everything.