You May Know Me…

Because you can always only see the tip of the iceberg. But there’s so much more to us. There are so many layers to people, layers maybe not even our closest friends will ever see. We choose to show the parts of us, of our personality, we are comfortable showing. Everything else stays hidden.

In certain moments with certain people you might go deeper. You might allow them to see more of you than what they’ve met so far. They have to prove themselves worthy though. It’s a little bit like wearing a mask. In a way, I think, it’s a good thing to be in charge of what you want to let people see. The more you open yourself up to someone the more vulnerable you get. The more you can get hurt.

There is the other side too. Some people don’t really want to see the real you. They are happy to stay on the surface and not dig deeper. I wonder sometimes what is better. If someone is happy to only know the person you are happy to show them, how far does their friendship really go? Will they still be your friend when the real you suddenly surfaces? Or will they turn their backs and just walk away because it might be too much for them to handle? Or maybe they just simply don’t like the part they didn’t meet before…

And just like the captain of the Titanic should have paid more attention to what might lay beneath the surface, we should as well when we meet and approach people. We only see a little part of them. We don’t know what is under the surface. What lays hidden. We don’t know how stable it is, how smooth or edgy. We don’t know if it’s safe to get close or dangerous. So I guess our approach has to be gentle and careful.

I like the idea of the iceberg… Makes you think, doesn’t it?

The idea of only a small part being above the surface with a huge, strong, steady part below, keeping the entire thing stable. There’s so much more to each and everyone of us. So much more to discover for someone who truly wants to know who we are.

And so much for us to lean back on, to find comfort in, to build on.