Strong = secure, well-built, indestructible, well protected, solid, durable, tough, long-lasting, sturdy, tough, rugged, powerful, strapping, muscular…….so why is it that at our weakest moment someone says ” you are strong you can handle this?”
I think that when we are dealing with a struggle, people surrounding us are truly trying their best to pump us up by telling us that we are STRONG, unknowing that what they are doing is potentially knocking us down. It is very hard to train yourself to act or feel strong when you are going through the biggest struggle of your life.
In all reality we want to be seen as strong I know I did. Could I be seen as strong when I first learned of what my future held?; could I be seen as strong when I learned my children would live with their dad?; could I be seen as strong when I moved into the home that housed the mistress?; The answer to all of those questions is absolutely not! So why did so many people continue to tell me how strong I was?
People see what you have survived as kind of like winning a boxing championship title, they then consider you STRONG. Sometimes they don’t realize that even though you have survived it and you are still going about your daily activities, you may still be crumbling inside. They may not know that when the phone rings you cringe thinking it has something to do with him, or that silly piece of mail you get every month reminding you of an oil change has his name on it is sending you into a tail spin. Trying to remain STRONG during all these little trivial things can be a big challenge.
I have recently learned that strength and strong are two very different words. Being strong and having strength can at times be total opposites. Was I strong enough to handle what I was facing? maybe not, but did I have the strength to face it and survive it….hell yes! Learning to tap into my strength reserves took some time and practice, but as of today I am learning how to channel that strength and turn it into being strong. 
We all want to be seen as a trooper and concur anything that is thrown our way, but sometimes we are tossed some curve balls that no one could possibly see coming… that is when we need to tap into our reserves and find our STRENGTH. The power that is within us to sustain anything, to endure anything, to face our biggest fears…when we use that power is when we are ultimately STRONG!
How have you used your strength to become strong? Please respond.
Kimberly
Courageous Butterfly
Related Links/Posts
Remember that age-old question that we were all asked when upon high school graduation and even during some job interviews? “Where do you see yourself in 5, 10, 20, 25…years?” I totally answered mine wrong, if we were graded on that I would’ve flunked out! Thank goodness those hopes and aspirations are not written in stone, therefore we can change them any time we want! But when we are forced to change them, that’s when it get’s tricky.
working on a literal path just yesterday right in the place that I thought I’d never be. Here I am and I’m a survivor! I didn’t know it was happening but I have embraced this very difficult change, faced it head on and I am rocking it! It is becoming clear that just because I thought I made the wrong decision, doesn’t make it wrong. It may just mean that the purpose I thought it was supposed to fill in my life was not what I envisioned.
Did you know that a fish has no idea it is in water? That’s where it spends every moment of its life and it has no idea that it is moving in water. It cannot see it, smell it, taste it, all it knows is that is the environment in which it lives and if it is taken from that, the breathing stops. A setting that is sounding all too familiar for me.
Out of the Chrysalis 