One thing that I realized yesterday is that any reaching out to another is an act of vulnerability and everyone has to do it so everyone is "equally" vulnerable. If you ask another person a question or tell them something about yourself, there's always the chance for a snub, hurt or disappointment but that the majority of the time, we aren't snubbed, hurt or disappointed and often when we are, it's our perception of a response, not the actual response we get that is the culpret. Too, since everyone has to be vulnerable, T's are doing it all the time and I don't know about you, but I was rather off-putting :-) When a T makes an overture and we retreat instead of taking them up on it. . . that's a bit disappointing to them I think? But, when one gets better at the communication thing, the interaction with others, one's perceptions change so one is not quite so snubbed, hurt or disappointed when one's vulnerability is rejected.

I think we're more vulnerable than we give ourselves credit for and everyone else is just as vulnerable and has the exact same problems we do with getting up one's nerve to share one's self (so we should remember when another person shares or reaches out, they're being vulnerable and we should take care in our response) but has had more practice is all, isn't "better" than we are or having fewer problems/necessarily less scared. Sometimes it helps me to see when other people "like me" are being brave, helps me be brave too.