One of my favorite sayings of all times goes a little something like this, “Well behaved women rarely make history”. Really, in a nutshell that is my philosophy. I know from past experience just how correct that statement is. How many times in your life have you bit your tongue, dug your nails into your skin, or screamed inside your head to keep your mouth shut? I will admit to doing all of the above, yet despite tongue bleeding, the words come out anyway. I do not like to be stifled, shut up or otherwise constrained from being who I am. Am I a strong woman? Of course! Was I born with the innate ability to stand up for what I believe in? No, not necessarily. I think that strength is something that has to be cured over time. Just like building blocks (I prefer Legos) that sit upon one another to gain stability, our experiences teach us strength. It’s what we choose to do with those constant life lesson’s that determinates whether or not one can be considered strong.
Do you have to be a pillar? A mountain? Or perhaps the gentlest of streams, but a stream that has been around for eons? I do not needarily think so. Strong women are women who know when to be weak, and accept that weakness is necessary for growth as well. Strength carries many different connotations. Some may consider surviving a terrible illness to be the yellow brick road to strength. But, do you have to survive the unspeakable to be considered a strong woman? That mountain we just considered, do we have to rock climb the hell out of it to be considered that mountain (forgive the poor analogy please)? Again, I do not think so. We all have different thresholds for pain, fear, even happiness. What experiences I go through that leads me to being strong does not mean the women next to me has to go through the same thing to be labeled as strong. Just because I may have lived through something horrific does not mean if you did not, you are not strong. You get my drift (drift, now there is a great word). The individual human experience to survive, evolve, mature is different for everyone.
Strong women are the source for the human experience. Bringing life into the world requires absolute strength. I think we forget that sometimes. That if not for women, we would not exist (not belittling God, or any other higher power here, just a disclaimer). There is a Chinese Proverb that I love, “The man (woman) who removes a mountain begin by carrying away small stones”. There is that mountain again, but if you think about it, it’s true. Climbing that mountain requires a conscious effort at taking one step at a time. It’s not just reaching the top of the mountain that results in being strong, it’s the one step at a time. With each step in whatever paths we travel, our strength enriches, gains power, and moves us to our goals.