You Are Stronger Than You Realize

You can do hard things, too.

When you fell and skinned your knees as a little kid, your body healed those scrapes. It stopped bleeding and it eventually grew new skin. The bruises you got from that fall turned purple and blue, then green and yellow, and then disappeared as if they were never there. The bones you broke were reset, and they grew back, too.

You healed into something new; you became something stronger, too.

You are stronger than you realize.

When the world told you “no” at every turn, you didn’t listen. You didn’t pay attention to the whisper of words intended to bring you down. You didn’t let them anchor you, or tether you, or clip your wings so that you could never fly again.

You pushed mute on what they said.

You kept forging onward, too.

You held onto the vision of what you wanted and you didn’t let go. You ignored the naysayers, the haters, and the ones who didn’t see the picture that you were trying to paint. You knew in your gut and in your heart and in your bones that you had a picture that needed to be splayed across a canvas, and you were not about to settle for a shade of gray when vibrant colors were what you wanted.

You are stronger than you realize.

You can do the hard, seemingly impossible things.

When grief has hit you in the gut and shattered you in a way you never thought possible, you stood back up. You held the pieces of your broken heart in the palms of your hands and you found a way to sew them back together. You mended what felt broken beyond repair. When it seemed easier to pull the covers over your head and fade away, you didn’t. You got out of bed. You put one foot in front of the other and you moved about your day. You let your wound become a scar, not an anchor. You found a way to begin again and live in the space of your new normal.

When life has thrown you curveballs, you’ve swerved right along it. You’ve hit the ball out of the park and climbed the mountain and finished the race.

Even when you’ve wanted to quit.

Even when you’ve wanted to curl up in the corner and cry.

Even when you’ve felt as if nothing would ever be okay again.

You persisted.

You can do hard things because you are strong.

You are strong because you’ve faced hard things.