You might feel like the only way to show that you're strong is to act like you're not affected – by anything. Just because someone is emotional doesn't mean they are weak or failing. I know this personally because I have been in situations where I've forced myself to be strong - and worshipped those who did, like my favorite Meredith Grey from a famous TV Series (calling out all Grey's Anatomy fans!).

But I realized with time that it is OKAY to break down and cry sometimes. The human in me craves to feel, to take the easy way out of problems because the pain feels hard to handle.

I'm discussing the ins and outs of the subject in today's episode. We'll talk about what happens within you when you force yourself to be strong, my definition of strength, and how to define your own strength.

Things to note:

• Consequences of ‘trying’ to be strong
• It makes you fragile. Because you try to muscle your way through life, plowing your way forward with all the baggage that actually needs to be dropped.
• It teaches you to ignore your emotions. As you continue to do that, you begin to lose your emotional agility slowly.

• It compromises your mental and physical health, causing you inexplicable stress.

• Define strength for yourself. For me, it's about feeling my feelings, learning to grow from tough situations with my heart and head in sync, and allowing myself the permission to be weak. It means I get to live life without judgments.

• Two concepts that inspired my definition of strength:
• Anti-fragility: From Nicolas Nassim Taleb's book, Anti-fragile Things. It taught me that anti-fragility is beyond resilience or robustness; it's about becoming someone who grows from adversity.
• Emotional agility: From Susan David's book Emotional Agility. It taught me to navigate life's twists and turns with self-acceptance and helped me create my definition of strength.

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Books:

• Anti-fragile Things by Nassim Nicolas Taleb
• Emotional Agility by Susan David

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