How many have trust issues? Are you working on them?

I struggle with trust issues too. Once bitten, twice shy...

You are right, giving in to your fear would mean letting evil win. It's great that you recognize that - for me, it took a long time to come to that realization.

In life I have found there is a balance you've got to strike between taking chances and guarding your heart. You don't want to go out there and trust just anybody with super valuable things (like the deeper parts of your heart), but after you've seen how a person is and know they are a good person, you have to force yourself to take that risk and trust even if it's uncomfortable for you. Unfortunately, testing people out is the only way to learn to trust again.

For me, it's been an uphill battle at times to be as open to people as I want to be. But when I look at where I was a year ago and I look at myself today, I can honestly say that I'm a lot farther along now than I was then. And to me, that's success.

There is a book that helped me a lot in knowing when to trust, and when to be guarded - and I've heard it's helped a lot of people with abusive pasts. The book is called "Boundaries," by Cloud and Townsend. I'd highly recommend it if you're looking to grow in the areas you mentioned.

Anyway, believe me when I say there is hope! Best of luck to you, dear one!

I'm glad that you are working on your trust issues and I'm sure you will succeed.

I also have trust issues. Basically, I find it very hard to trust people.

Here's my poem "My Childhood" which I think explains why I have such difficulty trusting people.

My childhood

ridicule like barbed wire

how did the children know this word

contaminated

this word contaminated

they threw at me like a volleyball back and forth

they didn’t drop the ball

contaminated the word holds

some memories are never forgotten

would this break you, reader

That’s how I learned the power of words,

the holiness of each word

each word like a statue

each word like a holy pagan god

that’s how I know the acidity of each word

the science of brute force

the torture of ridicule

the graphic design of those childish pagan gods

Were those children my pagan gods

Dredging up these memories from the sea beds

from the mud oozing between my toes

Contaminated heard in the classroom, playground,

the street where I lived, in the elevator going home,

this word followed me wherever I went

how would you bear it, reader

No whispers, no shame

the word said out loud

without barriers

with pointed fingers

with proud laughter

how would you suffer, reader

They accused

I stand falsely accused

like Piggy in the Lord of the Flies

Now and forever the eternal outcast

Now and forever absolved from fitting in anywhere

With brute force I write these words

I had major trust issues until i my heart was opened by an amazing man who show me and is still showing me what love really is.I had closed myself off from love because it just seemed to be ti painful when someone hurts you.i love this man like i have never loved before he is truly my soul mate.Thank you for the ? you just made me cry but it is a good cry, i cryed because i know how hard it was to get to this point in my life and life is very good. He is in Irac right now and i want him home with me but he is worth the wait, i would wait for him forever if i had too.

A little distrust is our early warning system. I don't think trust is earned unless you have caused reason to be distrusted. When meeting someone new we place our own level of ability to trust on them. This person either gives us no reason to even think about it or begins to undermine themselves and cause reason to distrust.

Once trust has been undermined I have never been able to trust the person to the level of first meeting them and I often don't care to allow the person to fix it.

eh im on nails all the time with people trying to get close to me. i still have a wall up.

Lady,I got more walls than a castle.