The Real Meaning of Strength

(peaceful music) Let's take a moment just for you before moving into the rest of your day. So, settling into a position that feels comfortable, and when you're ready, letting the eyes close. Now, if you can, just picture for a second someone you think of as strong, not the loudest person in the room, not necessarily the toughest, just someone who comes to mind when you think of real strength. Hold that person loosely in your mind as we begin. Now, taking a full breath in through the nose, holding it for a moment, and letting it go out through the mouth. Once more, in, holding, and out. And now just letting the breath settle back into its own rhythm. For a lot of us, strength was defined early on. It meant never asking for help, never flinching, never showing fear. And somewhere along the way, being strong stopped being something you do and became the only thing you're allowed to be. That's probably served you well in some moments. A crisis, a deadline looming, times that genuinely called for someone to take control. But strength as a full-time identity is a heavy weight to carry. Underneath it, you're still human, the same as anyone else. You're capable of feeling scared or tired or unsure, whether you show it or not. So, bring that person back to mind, the one you thought of a moment ago. What do they actually do when things get hard? Do they push through alone or do they let someone in? Do they act like they always have the answer or do they say, "I don't know," when that's the case? Chances are part of what makes them strong isn't the absence of fear. It's that they can let someone in, admit when something is hard and move forward anyway. Now picture yourself in a moment coming up this week, thinking of something a little uncertain, maybe even a little uncomfortable. Instead of reaching for the old definition of strong, the one that says, "Handle it alone and say nothing." Imagine borrowing a little of this new type of strength from the person you pictured. What would it look like to let someone see that and still keep going? Try and let yourself see it, even briefly. Often when we visualize how we want to show up, it makes it easier to embody that in real life. Let's take one more full breath together. In through the nose, hold at the top, and out through the mouth. (peaceful music continues) And whenever you're ready, opening the eyes and carrying that image with you into the week ahead....