It’s easy to size up other people’s ‘weaknesses’.
In fact I spent the majority of the first half of my life living that way.
Every person I met, I would immediately look for ‘how I could get the advantage’.
This wasn’t often or always malicious. It was much more about ‘protecting myself’ than it was about hurting someone else.
This fear-driven, scarcity-based mindset is very common.
The grass is greener. Keep up with the Jones’. Did you win? What’s the score? Did you score? What did you get on the test? Are you in with the cool crowd? Does he or she look better than you?
The list goes on.
The tendency to default to this mindset sometimes still surfaces in me, even though today I invest a lot of time & energy into breaking it, and shifting into a mindset of generosity.
It’s not the case that more for you means less for me.
Nor is it the case that you or I are not safe.
I put the word ‘weaknesses’ in quotes because really, they are just perceived weaknesses, perceived in the eye of the one making the evaluation.
It is completely up to that person (that’s you) how they want to view it.
If I’m open, vulnerable, and trusting, then yes, you can take advantage of me, if you choose.
Or, you can simply … trust me.
One path leads somewhere fruitful.
Matt Fried 