vulnerability

[trent]

I just finished up a presentation about vulnerability for school, and was surprised that there were 2 very different opinions about vulnerability in the literature:

1. vulnerability is how someone perceives their relative risk of injury/disease/disability/etc. and we should strive to be less vulnerable.

2. vulnerability is inherent to the human condition and it is only by exploring our vulnerability that we can build truly authentic relationships, so we should embrace our vulnerability.

Which of these versions of vulnerability do you subscribe to?

[SmilingBluEyes]

hmmm

depends on what time of month it is for me.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I support both views -- and don't believe they are mutually exclusive.

I believe that vulnerabililty is inherent in the human condition, making it entirely possible to eliminate it completely from our lives. We need to recognize this and be OK with that fact (i.e. embrace it) in order to stay sane and lead a mentally healthy life.

However, it is certainly wise to decrease our vulnerability (when reasonable) to things that might hurt us. We should stop smoking, get exercise, eat a nourishing diet, etc. to promote our good health.

It's taking extreme positions and believing that every concept/idea falls neatly into dichotomous categories that gets our thinking into trouble.

llg