Learning to trust isn’t always an easy thing for humans.
For the most part, it seems like when we start out in life, we have little problem trusting others.
We tend to trust our parents, our older siblings, etc.
However, as we go through life, sometimes we learn that not all humans can be trusted.
And if we go through one or more particularly bad experiences with betrayal, it can very easily cause us to become jaded.
To be honest, it’s not so uncommon to find humans who have been so hurt by other people that they struggle with being able to trust anyone at all.
But in this post, you’re going to learn three reasons for why it’s actually a worthwhile endeavor to try to overcome your trust issues and give people a chance.
1. Humans Are Social Creatures
As humans, we actually need the connection of our collective species in order to thrive.
Think about how happy you’ve been in the presence of good friends and loved ones.
Think about the positive friendships you’ve had that have added to your life and made you happy.
Relationships are really the meat and potatoes of the human experience.
But in order to give this positive social interaction a chance, it’s important that we learn how, at the very least, to extend a little bit of trust to new people we meet.
2. If We Put Up Too Many Walls, We’ll Never Build Relationships
Putting up walls is an understandable method for protecting yourself.
And you should want to protect yourself!
However, it’s really important that we learn to be aware of these walls and to lower them when we meet people who are worth taking the chance to trust.
This doesn’t mean that you should just let people into your life willy nilly, without putting up any kind of guard at all.
Rather, it’s important to treat people with a bit more optimism than pessimism. Instead of assuming that someone is going to do harm, instead, assume that this person probably doesn’t have any ill intent—and be cautiously optimistic about them instead.
3. Not Everyone In The World Is Out To Betray You
This can be a difficult truth to learn if you’ve been hurt by a lot of people.
But the true fact of the matter is that most humans want to be well-liked.
And this generally means that they try to do well to others.
If you keep running into people who seem intent on doing you harm, it could be a sign that your social circles are filled with toxic people, and that you may need to really expand your social net to try to bring yourself into contact with people who aren’t as toxic.
Self Reflection Can Help
It’s also important to do a bit of self-reflection about this.
When it comes to social interaction, value tends to attract value.
In other words, the better you become as a person, and the more ‘healed’ and ‘capable of wise and optimistic love’ you become, the more likely it’ll be that you’ll attract the same types of people into your life.
Of course, you should always be careful with new people.
Don’t expose yourself to needless danger, and always watch out for signs that new people may not be acting in your best self-interest.
But at some point, to have successful relationships, we do need to open up and let people in.
