I think society has this misconception about what strength is. I’m not talking about physical strength here; I’m talking about mental, emotional strength. I think that people always assume they need to present themselves as constantly happy, constantly prepared and put together, completely devoid of insecurities. I think that this happens for a lot of reasons. Sometimes people are just naturally prone towards introversion, sometimes people genuinely feel like their problems or struggles are insignificant and don’t want to bother others with them. More commonly, though, it seems like we equalize admitting our insecurities with vulnerability. We feel as though when we dare to express even the slightest vulnerability, we are weak prey: inferior beings able to be attacked and manipulated by everyone around us. It’s a funny thing really, because we all innately know that every human on this earth has struggles, we all just suppress them: because we are weak.

Ok, maybe it’s not always because we’re weak. I think a lot of times it is, though. We’re too afraid to be vulnerable, too afraid to ask for advice or help, too afraid to feel inferior. I am a sensitive person, I’ll admit it. I feel things and I feel them very deeply. Because of this, sometimes I find myself building up walls to prevent myself from getting hurt. I see other people barricade themselves from insecurities too. I see it in jealous, caddy remarks about others. I see it in narcissistic comments. I see it in belittling other peoples dreams and desires. It’s unfortunate that these are negative aspects of society that won’t cease to exist, but I think it’s beneficial to remember that this is weakness and it stems from hurt. We’ve all done it. I’m not sitting here writing about this because I think I am incredibly strong (in the way that I’m choosing to define it), I’m writing this because I have been weak so many times.

I have chosen to bottle up insecurities before, I have chosen to hide pain. I’ve done all of those things, just like every other human being has. Lately though, I have realized that because there is so much vulnerability attached to admitting our weaknesses, doing this is a very strong and noble thing. The reason I think that it’s so important is because once we are honest with ourselves and we accept our struggles: we gain invaluable lessons, realizations, and self-insight. More importantly, admitting problems that we have can help other people. This is exactly why I’m vulnerable on this blog. It’s not all that easy, but I know that if I could help one person through some silly blog post that I write, I would feel so accomplished, whole, and warm inside.  Sometimes I wonder why God “blessed” me with my little curse of sensitivity, but I have realized that it has shaped me into a more mindful and empathetic person.

I know that so many people are lost or alone or confused. So many people are dealing with terrible things that are beyond the scope of anything that I could ever begin to understand. I know every struggle I have ever labeled a “struggle” isn’t even close to some of the tragedies around the world, that’s not the point I’m trying to make. The point is, we all have struggles that we call our own, and if we all just opened up about them a little bit once in a while, we could do a lot of good to ourselves and to others. We can do so much by being strong.

Strength is admitting, “look, life isn’t perfect”. Strength is admitting, I’m insecure about ___. Strength is choosing to be positive and looking for the good amidst crummy situations. Strength is asking for help and advice. Strength is letting yourself be honest and vulnerable. Everyday, let’s try to be a little stronger.