Without vulnerability there can be no space for any real connection with another.
Playing the Charade
This has been said before, and much more eloquently, but it bears repeating. Until you risk being vulnerable with someone, what you have is a superficial exchange, often based on rituals. You play a charade, whereby you display your ‘best’ qualities and hide your less desirable ones to lower the risk of being rejected.
Clearly this is a coping mechanism, adopted to protect our wounded psyches. The real Self gets driven deeper below the surface and a false persona develops, like a photograph, based on how you curate your behaviour in social interactions, even with close family and romantic partners.