KANISA GEORGE
Finding your inner strength. What does this really mean? In our daily lives, we are faced with struggles that threaten to erode us.
Obstacles that ignore boundaries, and a stroke of bad luck that greets us at the dawn of a new day. Make no mistake, bad days are an indivisible part of life. And as much as we try to avoid them, they are eagerly waiting for us around the next bend. Finding the courage to soldier through the many hiccups that we face isn't always easy to do. Especially when the many roles we have as women are presented as decks stacked against us.
As much as we try to avoid it, the plagues of life are here to stay. And even if the rain dissipates momentarily, the clouds don't linger too far away. How then do we weather the storm?
Some people believe that the greatest strength of a woman is her resiliency and inner power. And quite frankly, they might be on to something. We face desertion, miscarriage, rape and exploitation. We are slut-shamed, verbally abused and looked down upon when we attain a certain age. After enduring the pain and hurt of a failed marriage or the death of a child, many of us still push through the pain and loss and continue to live meaningful lives while carrying hurt and undeniable grief. Our ability to 'bounce back' has a lot to do with our perspective, but it is largely in part to our inner strength.
According to one writer, inner strength is a psychological resource that promotes well-being and facilitates healing. It is the ability to protect ourselves against adversity by maintaining a positive, hopeful and optimistic attitude that allows us to project ourselves into the future.
What many of us don't realise, is that inner strength is a prerequisite needed to master this thing call life. It is an approach that erodes any notion of the rose-tinted glasses syndrome and appeals to a much greater sense of self. Developing traits that feed into your inner strength positively impact the decisions you make. It ensures resilience and gives you a sense of protective and supportive power that improves endurance and self-knowledge.
Founder of the modern positive psychology movement Christopher Peterson discovered that some personal traits were universal across cultures and throughout history. Itemised by varying strengths, there is a direct link between strengths of courage and inner strength. Strengths of courage are emotional strengths that involve the exercise of will to accomplish goals in the face of external and internal opposition. These include bravery, persistence, integrity and vitality.
But why is developing inner strength necessary?
In a world where levels of apathy are high and moral standards are often negotiated, having an anchor that grounds us has never been more critical. Inner strength is what makes us hopeful and pushes us to move forward, even when it seems like everything around us is falling to bits. It allows us to rely on our capabilities to endure adversity and stay positive even in the face of something trag
