Caring about people means you can get hurt. Refusing to care guarantees a smaller life.

Every attachment is an opening, and there is no version of closeness that removes the risk. People withdraw, disappoint, and sometimes leave, and knowing that is what makes some people decide to hold everyone at arm’s length. That decision works: it does reduce the pain, and it reduces everything else by the same amount.

You do not have to be reckless with your heart to be open with it. Let one person a little further in this month, at whatever pace feels honest. The bruises are real, and most people who have had both would still not trade the closeness away.