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strength<br />
resourceful<br />
courageous<br />
flexible<br />
Complexity of Strength<br />
By Stacie Anderson<br />
Where does strength come from?<br />
Undoubtedly you’ve experienced a time in your life<br />
when you’ve felt anything but strong.<br />
I can’t even begin to count the times in my life when I<br />
felt defeated, when the weight of the world was heavy,<br />
and might I even say at times, unbearable.<br />
Despite the challenges that each of us has experienced,<br />
here we are, stronger for it. Although sometimes I<br />
know it doesn’t feel that way.<br />
“Strength doesn’t always have to roar.<br />
Sometimes it’s a quiet whisper that tells us to<br />
take the next step. From somewhere deep<br />
inside we mustered up enough strength to<br />
move forward.”<br />
We might not always recognize it when it shows up<br />
when we show up, but often in reflection, we see how<br />
we’ve risen. Even if it does take someone to point it out<br />
to us. That’s the complexity of strength - sometimes we<br />
know when we are demonstrating it and other times<br />
not so much. It has the ability to be subtle, showing<br />
up in a quiet way. From being patient, restraining our<br />
words or actions, to holding space for someone to<br />
even letting someone else have the credit or win. There<br />
is also the way in which at times we need to borrow<br />
strength, leaning on someone to help us through.<br />
While other times we lend it and give of it generously.<br />
It is complex. Sometimes in triumphant physical<br />
display while other times quietly evolving through<br />
personal reflection and work. External and internal<br />
thresholds. Resistance coming from our outer world<br />
and from within. It takes many forms: emotional,<br />
mental, spiritual, and physical. None of which are<br />
independent of each other. There is a multitude of<br />
ways that we can expand ourselves, push our limits,<br />
and become stronger. Humans have been testing<br />
our boundaries since the beginning. Whether we are<br />
deliberate about strengthening exercises or it was a<br />
result of an experience we’ve survived, in either case,<br />
we are stronger for it.<br />
Through adversity comes character,<br />
resilience, and yes, strength.<br />
We all have our own mountains to climb, but over the<br />
last year, collectively, we faced a global pandemic. We<br />
felt the isolation as we were encouraged to distance.
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