Inner strength is our ability to be resilient, how we respond to adversity. It is believing in ourselves enough to know that we can pick up and carry on. Life is going to knock us down. It’s going to kick our asses from time to time, but we all have a choice to not stay down for the count. We can choose to get back up and come back stronger and better than ever. It all boils down to our mindset and how badly we want something or want to change.
Life is all about duality, the up’s and the down’s, the good and the bad, pleasure and pain. Without experiencing the things that are seen as negative or painful, how would we ever begin to understand and appreciate the peace and beauty that comes along with joy and happiness. We shouldn’t try to fight the painful moments, because it is in those moments that our greatest evolution can take place.
For many years, I felt like I lacked inner strength. I had so many fears and thoughts of being unworthy of anything or anyone. I felt lost and alone. I often appeared strong on the outside, but felt so weak on the inside. My road to finding my inner strength wasn’t easy, but I’ve done it.
Techniques That Helped Me Find My Inner Strength
Acceptance – Accept that there are some things you can change and some things you can’t. You can’t change anything about another person, but you can change everything about yourself. You can change how you respond to situations, choices you make, your perception of events, etc… Acceptance was a very liberating moment for me when my life began to change. Why? Once I no longer focused on the change I wanted to see from my ex-husband, I was able to fully commit to making changes within myself. This is when I began to gain my power, my strength.
Let Go – Let go of what you think the process should look like. Let go of what you think the outcome should be. Simply put, let go of your expectations. In Buddhism, there is the belief that suffering is caused by attachment or by having expectations. This is because attachment keeps us from living in the present moment and allows our ego to take over and play all sorts of mind games with us. The result can be a life of worry, of misunderstandings, of being “let down”, of unhappiness. Attachment keep us from experiencing freedom.
Take One Day at a Time – Each day is a new opportunity to start over. Instead of clinging to how you think you “failed” yesterday, focus on today. Focus on the present moment. Take it easy on yourself. Every day will bring a new set of challenges, but what’s most important is that you make progress, even if it’s baby steps. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were you.
Don’t Focus on Other People’s Opinions – Everyone faces life based on their own reality and their own experiences. Each person’s reality will be different from another person’s in some way. The opinions that someone expresses has no bearing on your life. Your strength, under no circumstances, is a reflection of another person’s opinion about you. It is all up to you!
What I’ve discovered through my process is that I always had inner strength; I just didn’t always recognize it.
What is my strength? My strength is my ability to be true to myself, to be vulnerable, and to express my deepest emotions. It is my ability to still show and have love for others whose actions have caused me pain. My strength is the love that I have for myself and the confidence in who I am. My strength is that no matter what someone else says or does to me, I know who I am and I know my worth.
What is your strength? How did you come to recognize it? Share in the comments below. You never know; your strengths may give others the strength to begin Living Differently and Better!
