It's said that you will get hurt when people know too much about you. They may take advantages of your weaknesses, manipulate your behaviors, and even harm you.
But I also know that you are treated in the way you treat others. If you're kind and helpful, people will do the same for you.
So which way will you choose?
Protect yourself by keeping distance to everyone. Or be honest and vulnerable but get respect and love from them? I choose to be honest and sincere.
In my experience, any long-lasting relationships need to build up with honesty and sincerity. While honesty gain trust, sincerity builds meaningful connections.
When you're honest, you don't have to pretend to be someone else or tell lies. Being yourself is always easier and cost less effort than faking to be another person. Life would be much less stress and pressure. People would get to know each other real-quick and no longer waste time to figure things out.
Let's imagine you are dating a new guy you met on Tinder. You try to look nice and pretty at the first and second dates to attract him. But it's actually not the way you've always been. It's undoubtedly that your relationship will end up nowhere. Because one day, you'll be tired of trying not to be you. Or worse, your Tinder mate finds out you're not really nice as you were on the first date.
Why don't we just be honest in the first place? If things don't work out, just stop.
I see many people have a hard time getting along with people and build strong connections with colleagues and friends. They have one thing in common: the lack of sincerity.
They know they need a good relationship with colleagues to effectively work together. But that approach only bases on benefits. How can you make people like you while you don't like or care about them?
We are just human. We act on feelings. We can see and feel when a person truly cares about us and also when a person tries to be nice on purpose.
I can't tell you how to create connections with people because I don't know either. But what I do is I only put the effort into the relationships that I feel meaningful to me. I don't approach people to take advantages of them.
I'm a simple person, I choose the easier way to live :)