Redefining Strength

Daggers in my heart,

I should have known from the very start.

That life is not what I think it is.

And that the society has got it all wrong,

Strength was never meant to be defined like this.

We are living in a society,

Where we have made the strongest minds feel the weakest,

And the weakest ones feel the strongest,

So, here I am,

Making an attempt to redefine what strength truly means,

This is something everyone should know,

Schools should teach this to kids and preteens.

Strong are the ones who can feel,

Strong are the ones who can cry,

Because only those who can feel real pain can feel real pleasure,

You are strong if you fall hard because you care and you love,

You are strong if it breaks your heart to say goodbye.

You are strong if you find yourself fighting every day,

You are strong if you keep trying even if you can’t find a way,

You are strong if you haven’t settled with what’s keeping you down,

And you are not entirely comfortable in your life,

Because a great soul once said,

That a champion is always fighting something,

You are strong if each moment of your life is a struggle,

You are strong if your life feels like more of a boxing ring.

But if you have settled, it doesn’t imply that you are weak.

But the truth needed to be said for the sake of the strong,

That if you don’t feel like settling, you are not wrong.

You are strong if once in a while, or sometimes too frequently,

You experience a mental breakdown.

Because a warrior will want to keep learning and changing,

And constructing new and fresh mindsets, seeking and arranging,

Doing that sometimes can give you more than a frown.

Because new mindsets cannot be constructed,

Without breaking down the old ones,

And that can make you feel weak sometimes,

Even the strong ones can feel the urge to escape, avoid and run.

But just because you feel something, doesn’t mean that it is real.

You don’t have to act on it,

You don’t have to be a victim of the weak; your reaction is a choice you make.

Having strength doesn’t mean to resist your emotions,

It means to allow yourself to feel, and not let the emotion control you.

There is strength in your emotions, because no matter what you do,

You can’t have physical or mental growth if you don’t have the emotional energy,

You don’t have to torture yourself to move forward with your life,

No, Strength is not cutting your emotions out of your heart with a knife,

Rather understand the importance of replenishing your emotional energy,

Every day by doing at least one thing that makes you happy.

And when you are going through something,

Strength is in finding an expression,

 It is a really necessary and wonderful coping mechanism.

It could be anything talking, crying, writing, dancing or any other art form,

No, please don’t suppress your emotions,

Suppression is depression; you don’t have to listen to what people say,

You don’t have to follow the societal norm.

Strength is in self-love, self-worth, and self-value,

And also to feel others’ pain, to embrace your sense of empathy.

You are strong if you feel compassion for other beings,

But a great soul once said, that if your compassion doesn’t include yourself,

It is incomplete.

Strength is having the courage to say no,
Strength is in forgiveness, and in the act of letting go.

It is in understanding that you are not obligated to serve anyone,

Not a single soul in the world, not your friends, partner, or family,

No matter how much they tell you to believe so.

Strength is in putting yourself first, because if you don’t fill your own cup,

You can’t help another being if your own energy storage has gone bankrupt.

Strength is in seeking a life of abundance,

No matter how many struggles you go through,

Keep empowering yourself,

Because God wants your praise,

That’s what the Bible says.

You are strong if you stand up for yourself and defend yourself,

No matter what other people say.

If you learn to carry with you both an armor and sword,

Strength is in knowing that you are important,

Because the grave cannot praise the Lord.

Copyright © Upasana Goyal 2018