Finding your inner strength

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 tragic.

Can a positive attitude and highly developed traits of courage impact your quality of life? Well, according to research conducted by the University of Utah, inner strength is one of the most essential factors in determining the quality of life of people who survive cancer. The study found that inner strength allowed them to face the disease with greater integrity and positivity. Ultimately this study showed the importance of supporting inner strength and self-management skills to enhance the quality of living.

Further, the University of Åland found that the risk of depression increases by 20 per cent as women age. Boman et al researched elderly women living in a community setting and found that women who rated their own inner strength higher were found to be at lower risk for depression, and non-depressed women were shown to be more likely to engage in meaningful leisure activities.

Both these studies illustrated how inner strength acted as a protective barrier that not only keeps us safe from depression but allows us to engage in positive and meaningful activities that improve our health.

Life is a proverbial see-saw. Sometimes you’re up, and other times you’re face down in the dirt. If we think of inner strength as an investment for life, maybe the problems we face and the obstacles that get in our way won’t completely derail us. Perhaps we’ll be able to use them as a bridge that leads us to our next chapter. Why not give it a try?