Struggle and strength

Hello darling,

Where there is struggle, there is also strength.
This juxtaposition is easy to forget when we’re kneecap deep in lessons from the ultimate teacher: life.

Sometimes the struggle is so real we can’t see a way through, over, under, or around it. We are smack dab in the thick of it. We think it will never change and that we don’t have what it takes to handle it (you do).

Because there isn’t an easy fix (of course there isn’t, or it wouldn’t be teaching us anything), the tendency is to say fuck it, and do what we’ve always done to soothe.

Eat, drink, enable, make ourselves smaller, allow disrespectful behavior, shop, procrastinate, lie, hide, make excuses, get angry, turn a blind eye, anything and everything that allows us to carry on as usual, even when the usual is no longer working for us.

Every time we choose to stay in familiar patterns, we miss the opportunity to exercise our strength.

And holy shit, do we have strength. It is in each and every one of us. It is a force to be reckoned with in the most beautiful and gentle of ways.

Not having strength isn’t the problem. You have the strength. The problem is most of us don’t allow ourselves to get uncomfortable enough to summon its presence.

Simply put, our typical pattern looks like this:

Hard lesson > pain > soothe > hard lesson > pain > soothe > hard lesson > pain > soothe

Instead of:

Hard lesson > pain 😩 > pain 😧 > pain 😞 > pain 🤕> pain 😢 > pain 😓 > 🏋️‍♀️💪MOTHER FUCKING STRENGTH 💪🏋️‍♀️ > new choices that surprise the hell out of us in the best possible ways 💯> empowered ✨ > proud 👏> gratitude directed inward 😊> an expansive life 🥰

Strength doesn’t feel self-important.
It doesn’t push or fight toward something.
It doesn’t grip or pull.
Strength is a gentle release.
A surrender.
A letting go.
A trusting.
It’s not based on what we want or don’t want or our likes or dislikes.
It doesn’t hinge on the past or the future or our fears.

When it gets our invitation, strength swoops in and guides us to tend to and care for ourselves in the present moment. Even if it’s scary. Even if it feels impossible. Even if other people don’t understand. Even if we don’t quite know what we’re doing. Strength is available to us at any moment, but it takes bumping up against those painful edges without retreating back to what we deem “safe.”

Where there is struggle, there is strength.

Where there is comfort, there is stagnation.

There’s nothing wrong with comfort, but sometimes we need to struggle more than we need comfort, if for no other reason than to remind ourselves what we’re capable of.

You have so much strength, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now.

If you want to explore your strength, join my 2023 Plant Fueled Reset. You will say hi to that edge and find that strength. Our kick-off call is on January 7th, 2023, and it runs until February 4th.

Know someone who wants to find their strength in the struggle? Gift them the 2023 Reset and watch them soar.

Molly