Choosing to love means choosing to be vulnerable. Because regardless of how well you love someone they can choose to reject it. And this response is something we cannot control.
Love is not coercive, and so it may be met with reception, rejection, or indifference. And it’s this unknown reaction which can make extending love difficult and scary at times. No one wants to give of himself and then be rejected. It’s much easier to play it ‘safe’—not loving, but also not being hurt—than to love and possibly suffer the pain of rejection or indifference.
But in refusing to be vulnerable, we also miss the chance to experience the kind of life that is only found in choosing to love.