Skip to main content

Trending Now: What everyone's reading.

What Does It Really Mean to Be Strong?

By The Artful Woman
People love to tell me how strong I am. They see what I've survived—trauma, loss, surgeries, fear, recovery, financial stress, heartbreak, and the countless times I've had to rebuild my life—and they call me strong. I never asked to be strong. I didn't wake up and choose a life where I would have to keep rebuilding myself over and over again. I didn't choose to be the one who has to rely on independence through survival. I didn't choose to be the one who keeps getting back up when there's no guarantee of support waiting on the other side. A lot of the time, I didn't want to do it on my own. But I didn't get a choice in that part. Not because I set out to be strong. But because I kept going anyway. I kept going anyway, and I stayed kind and loving through it. Real strength isn't about being hard, unshakable, or emotionally shut down. Real strength is staying kind without becoming weak. And honestly? That's harder than people think. When people tel...
Post a Comment

What Does It Really Mean to Be Strong?

Image
By The Artful Woman




People love to tell me how strong I am. They see what I've survived—trauma, loss, surgeries, fear, recovery, financial stress, heartbreak, and the countless times I've had to rebuild my life—and they call me strong.

I never asked to be strong.

I didn't wake up and choose a life where I would have to keep rebuilding myself over and over again.

I didn't choose to be the one who has to rely on independence through survival. I didn't choose to be the one who keeps getting back up when there's no guarantee of support waiting on the other side.

A lot of the time, I didn't want to do it on my own.

But I didn't get a choice in that part.

Not because I set out to be strong.

But because I kept going anyway.

I kept going anyway, and I stayed kind and loving through it.

Real strength isn't about being hard, unshakable, or emotionally shut down.

Real strength is staying kind without becoming weak.

And honestly? That's harder than people think.

When people tell me, "You're so strong," I know they usually mean it as a compliment.

But sometimes it feels dismissive.

Because what I often hear underneath those words is:

"You'll be fine."

"You can handle it."

"I don't need to worry about you."

"You don't need support because you've got this."

And that's the hard part about being the strong one.

People see your resilience, but they don't always see the cost of it.

They don't see the fear, the pain, the exhaustion, the grief, or the moments when you're barely holding it together.

In the hospital, I was put on psychiatric medications because someone believed my tears meant something was wrong that needed to be fixed.

I wasn't asking to be medicated. I wasn't trying to escape my feelings.

I wanted to feel all of it.

The grief.

The anger.

The fear.

The sadness.

Because I'm human, and I'm allowed to have emotions about losing a leg and having my entire life turned upside down.

I didn't need my feelings taken away.

I needed the space to have them.

And sometimes being called "strong" can feel the same way.

As if there's no room for the messy parts.

No room for the breakdowns.

No room for the fear, the anger, the pain, or the grief.

As if being strong means I don't get to be human.

But strength doesn't erase my humanity.

I still hurt.

I still grieve.

I still have bad days.

I still need love, support, comfort, and kind words.

And it's okay if I cry.

Because crying doesn't make me weak.

Crying means I'm healing.

I'm processing.

I'm grieving.

I'm being human.

And I'm allowed to feel every bit of it.

So if you tell someone they're strong, don't stop there.

Tell them you see how hard they've had to fight.

Tell them you're proud of them.

Tell them they're loved.

Ask them how they're really doing.

Sit with them in the hard moments.

Because sometimes the strongest people are carrying the heaviest burdens in silence.

And sometimes, more than anything, we just want permission to put our guard down and be human.


If my story, healing journey, or honesty has touched you in some way, and you’d like to support my continued recovery and rebuilding process after multiple surgeries and ongoing challenges from my accident, you can donate to my GoFundMe here: GOFUNDME LINK

Every donation, share, message, and act of support truly helps more than you know. Thank you for being part of this journey with me.


strength, resilience, trauma recovery, healing journey, surviving adversity, emotional strength, personal resilience, kindness through pain, life rebuilding, mental strength


Labels:
Location: Lake Elsinore, CA, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Survivor of Ortega Highway Head-On Collision Speaks Out on Life-Altering Injuries, Recovery, and Road Safety Awareness

By The Artful Woman
   PRESS RELEASE  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Survivor of Ortega Highway Head-On Collision Speaks Out on Life-Altering Injuries, Recovery, and Road Safety Awareness Lake Elsinore, California — 6-17-2026  — A California woman is speaking publicly about the life-changing impact of a head-on collision on the  Ortega Highway , calling for greater awareness around reckless driving, road safety, and the long-term human cost of split-second decisions behind the wheel. On September 6th, while driving carefully and allowing extra time on a route she had always approached with caution, she was struck head-on by a driver who crossed into her lane. Her vehicle was sent flying before crashing into a tree, which ultimately stopped her car from going further and likely saved her life. She sustained catastrophic, life-altering injuries, including the loss of one leg, severe damage to the remaining leg requiring extensive metal hardware, multiple spinal injuries, rib fractures, a shat...
Post a Comment
Read more

Walking Through Fear While My Life Is Still Unstable

By The Artful Woman
  Walking Through Fear Anyway: When Survival Becomes a Daily Choice I’m at risk of losing my housing right now. That sentence alone feels surreal to write, but it’s my reality. I’ve already survived things most people only ever read about. A catastrophic accident. A medically induced coma. An amputation. Metal now holding parts of my body together—including my vertebrae, and my left leg from my knee to my ankle. I’m still learning what all of this means in real time, because even now, no one has fully explained every part of what happened to me. I also don’t remember the accident itself. Not because I’m avoiding it—but because my mind shut it out. The trauma was so severe, and my body was so critically compromised, that everything went into survival shutdown. I had kidney failure and heart failure. My body was shutting down, and my brain shut down with it. What I do remember is the day. I remember my thought process clearly in the beginning. I remember thinking I wasn’t in a...
Post a Comment
Read more

I fiercely protect my energy — and let me tell you why.

By The Artful Woman
  I fiercely protect my energy — and let me tell you why. For most of my life, I’ve been the type of person people could count on. A good person. Someone who would show up, give, listen, and hold space. But when you’re wired like that, people often mistake it for weakness. Instead of honoring it, they take advantage. They lean on it. They drain it. I call them time bandits, energy thieves, and soul snatchers — people who see your kindness as an open door to take, take, and take some more. And when you don’t have boundaries, they will absolutely drain you. And for me, being an empath only intensified that experience. I feel things deeply. I absorb the emotions, chaos, and energy of the people around me. At first, I didn’t even realize it wasn’t mine. I carried other people’s burdens like they were my own. And when it got too heavy, when the overload became unbearable, I didn’t have tools to release it. So I numbed. I distracted myself. I tried to bury it. But here’s the truth: a lo...
Post a Comment
Read more

When Trauma Breaks Your Reality, You Start Questioning Everything

By The Artful Woman
  I came across a quote recently that stopped me in my tracks: “Quantum physics is where they hide the scientific proof of spirituality.” And honestly? After everything I’ve survived, that line hit differently. A few years ago, I probably would have read that quote and simply thought it sounded interesting. But trauma has a way of stripping life down to its rawest truths. After my stroke… after my accident… after losing a limb and watching my entire identity collapse in front of me… I started questioning everything I thought I knew about healing, reality, energy, and what it truly means to survive. Because when your body experiences extreme trauma, you realize very quickly that healing is not just physical. It’s emotional. Mental. Energetic. Spiritual. Science is finally catching up to what ancient spiritual traditions have taught for centuries: everything is energy. Our thoughts affect our bodies. Stress changes the nervous system. Fear impacts healing. Intention matters. Human b...
Post a Comment
Read more