A common defense is to prevent yourself from caring. To coast instead of giving it your all. To put up a wall around your heart, a barrier between the deepest parts of you and the world. Perhaps the hurt isn’t as intense this way. But neither are the joys. You miss out on a lot of richness. A full life requires vulnerability.

We all know how loving ends. But I want to fall in love with the world anyway, to let it crack me open. I want to feel what there is to feel while I am here.