Baby steps to vulnerability

I am taking baby steps to share myself.
In the past few days, I have told four friends about my nightmare.  I did not go into explicit detail with most of them. But I did begin to talk, which, in my book, is a giant step that I couldn't even foresee taking.

I'm talking.  I'm starting to talk.  And I'm grateful that I have people around me to listen.  Thank you for listening, for letting me feel like I can let it out without any pressures.  Thank you for not being judgmental, critical, or disgusted by the materials that I have shared with you.  Thank you for your empathy, your sympathy, and your compassion for what I have gone through.

More than anything though, I really really really thank you for just sitting with me and letting me pour it all out.  It is more difficult than you can imagine: organizing my emotions into words, letting my words sit in my throat, and forcing my words out of my mouth so that they are there.  Open. Floating. Soaring through the space to get to your ears and whoever is in the vicinity.  It is a huge risk and challenge that I am taking. And I am really trying my best to be vulnerable to you.