Recently, I was reading one of my favorite collections of poetry in the book by Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey, and I came across a piece that was short, sweet, and to the point. It simply says, “to be soft is to be powerful.”

Seven words. This was all it took to have me put the book down, but go back and read it every single day, multiple times a day. These seven words have been reverberating in my brain since I first saw them in my paperback copy of the book. I have since taken a step back and evaluated how I interact in my day to day life with strangers, with friends and family, and with myself.

I have noticed a common theme that I often apologize for showing vulnerability. I have caught myself saying things such as, “I have a fever and that makes me weepy,” or “Okay, enough lovey dovey stuff, back to work.” Why do I do this? Why do I feel the incessant need to make excuses for expressing my sadness to a friend or stop spreading love because it may make me vulnerable? This isn’t just myself doing this, either, I have noted a common trend of this in the people surrounding me as well.

How frustrating is it to witness and partake in the phenomenon! Rupi Kaur was right – showing softness isn’t synonymous to showing weakness. Rather, showing your soft side should be glorified, encouraged, celebrated. If you take a look at the world that surrounds us, you may notice a string of bad happening. Whether this be when you watch the news, get on social media, or simply listen to conversations taking place around you. There is an incredible amount of hate, intolerance, stone cold facades – it seems to be that negativity and pretending to be “too cool to care” and other awful things happening in the world has become the main stream.

So why are we so afraid to break apart from the mainstream and be positive, be caring, be soft? There is such beauty in those who show compassion, emotion, and passion; those who aren’t afraid to take the leap and oftentimes be ridiculed for showing who they are on the inside; those who express their innermost desires and jubilations. There is such strength in them doing this as well, for being soft is a rarity that seems to be reserved for only the most daring in the world. It takes courage to expose something so beautiful and pure.

This is why I’m deciding to slowly incorporate being soft into my daily life. I hope that someday we live in a world where everyone is embraced for expressing their softness and applauded for it. The people in my life who already do this I abundantly admire, so I am choosing to become more like them.

I would hope that you may join me in my efforts to express the side of me that I rarely choose to give people a glimpse of. Show your heart, show your soul, show your mind – show your softness. There really is a strength in being soft.