The last post in this series is one that is near and dear to my heart. After 31 years on this earth there are a few things I’m sure of: my God, the ability of food to bring people together, and the fact that we genuinely need relationships in our lives. Not Facebook acquaintances, but flesh-and-blood, thick-and-thin, love-you-always relationships. I truly believe that the health of those relationships will help in determining a lot of our health in general.

I’m a very introverted person; one-on-one I do great, but in huge public settings you can generally find me close to an exit door. I don’t mind being alone; in fact eating alone in restaurants or even seeing a movie by myself is extremely relaxing. But there have been times in my life when that introvertedness has hurt me rather than helped me.

The thing with relationships is this: they’re messy. When you let people in and they start to know your junk and you know theirs, it’s hard. We will hurt one another. We will disagree. There will be times when we all just want to run and hide. I’ve experienced that many times in my life to the point of not ever really letting anyone in, other than close family, until the past 6 years.

And you know what? Those 6 years ruined my life in the best way possible.

I met women (and some men) who challenged me. They made me think, they made me talk, they made me share. I told them things and thoughts and actions I never thought I’d reveal to anyone. I hurt their feelings and they hurt mine. We hashed it out, grew stronger, and for the first time I started to understand that people were not made to be alone. Our lives are stronger and healthier and more beautiful even in the mess and the junk, and I could never go back to being covered up and protecting my heart from potential mess.

My plea to you is this: open up. Share your life. Share your hardest thoughts, with grace. Don’t just sit in comfort, because at the end of the day the beauty comes from daring to be you in front of others.

One final thought: how perfect of a time does this come at? The holidays are upon us, and this is the time of year that we all look forward to and dread simultaneously. Be willing to get a little messy. A little crazy. A little FUN. Take chances and dream big with the people you care about. Open up. You’ll be so glad you did!