[atoav]

Towards yourself. We live on a society. The lady at the cash register in the supermarket you visit to get your food made by the labor of other people is not a person that you might deeply care about. But when she is gone and you can't get your food maybe you would.

This is vulnerability in the societal sense: if we try to see things as they are we can all live our lifes as we do because of other people. Yet many believe they are strong independent bastions that could survive in complete autarky.

This is a comforting lie. And there are many such comforting lies. Knowing them to be lies doesn't make you weaker, it makes you stronger.

Knowing your vulnerabilities doesn't make them go away, but not knowing your vulnerabilities is a safe way to get them exploited (or find out about them in a crisis).

The thing is: figuring out your vulnerabilities always means you first have to aknowledge you have them to begin with. This can be hard. But it is something that can be done alone, if one is afraid of being exploited (which depending on your environment can be a totally realistic fear).