"To Love at All is to be Vulnerable"

I spend a lot of time thinking about friendships and relationships....what they should be like, what I can do to be a better person and better friend, how to love people unconditionally, etc. It's just something I enjoy to think deeply about. It's hard to be in relationships or friendships after getting burned by people, or rejected, or abandoned. It's really hard to reopen your heart to others, to trust them again, or to even love them like you once loved before. But it's gotta be worth it, right? One of my favorite quotes about relationships and love is by Christian author, C.S. Lewis. He says:

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”