Strong, Stronger
& Strongest!
©Allen
Merritt (2016)
When you think of the
word strong, what do you think of? What is the first thing that comes to mind?
For me, I think of strong as the ability to stand firm ground despite it all.
The word strength leads me to consider what it means to be strong, to grow
stronger and place myself in a position of living the best life I can and
becoming my ultimate, which is my “strongest.”
Building strength makes
us strong. The key word here is “building.” It takes effort to create strength
and thus become strong. Of course interpreting the meaning and associations of
the word “strong” varies and descriptions are many. According to
Wiktionary.org, the following words are synonyms of the word “strong.”
“Strong, powerful,
mighty, able; firm, constant, resolute, strenuous, hardy; hard, severe, fierce,
stern, strict; bold, brave; valid, assured; effective, producing a great
effect, potent; earnest; arduous, violent.”¹
Today I am pondering
this word as it relates to personal growth and steps toward creating a life
filled with possibility and positivity. Did you notice that some of the
synonyms listed above are serious insofar as they push the idea of strong
toward the more negative spectrum? For example, the words “severe”, “violent”,
and “fierce” may be interpreted as harsh. Overall, the aforementioned synonyms
are interesting to consider as related to the ideology of strength. Take a
moment to think about your favorites. I personally like “effective” and “producing
a great effect,” as they lend themselves toward considering the positive side
of strength.
For some, strength is
natural. For others, it takes real effort; a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Ask
anyone who has tried to lose weight!
As I think about it, I
remember the seven full marathons I have run. Training for them was an attempt
to build up toward running a successful race. It was personal. Running is an
individual sport most of the time. It is you against yourself, time and
distance. In order to persevere, you have to keep doing it and push yourself a
little harder each time. Once you complete the marathon, no matter how
difficult a task it was, you feel good about yourself. Marathons are never
easy, but there is a lesson in personal growth there. It takes mind, body, soul
and spirit to get through it. The message here seems to be to hang in there.
Keep going. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
I see this as a
positive thing. In fact, I personally use running as a therapy toward becoming
stronger even today. Of course, building strength comes in different forms for
everyone. My point is to find personal ways to make your way to your happy and
positive place.
There is a new
television show entitled “Strong,” which apparently places participants in a
position of testing their limits. They persistently push and drive themselves
in an attempt to persevere and achieve success in making their way to a finish
line proceeded by obstacles and hurdles. This certainly sounds like more than a
metaphor for everyday life.
Remember the Lance
Armstrong campaign: LIVESTRONG? Here is a campaign that focuses on helping self
and others. Maybe we can take a moment this week to focus on thinking about
this idea of being strong and building strength so that we (ourselves) can
become stronger and make our way to be our strongest. Not only can we work on
that for ourselves, we can also work toward being that support system to help
and encourage others to do the same. Now that is a positive goal!
Take a moment to think
on the following ideas:
Strength: The quality or state of being strong, in particular. A good or beneficial quality or attribute of a person or thing.²
Strong:
The ability to stand firm ground despite it
all
Stronger:
Building more strength one step
at a time
Strongest: Position of living the best life I can and
becoming my ultimate.
Challenge yourself to
capture and personify your own personal strength this week.
Apply that strength to
growing stronger and believing in who you are and what you have to offer and
then utilize said strengths to become stronger.
Go out there and be
your very best you. There is nothing more positive than that!
Cheers!
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/strong (Viewed
on 4/27/16)¹
https://www.google.com/search?q=live+strong&rlz=1C1NNVC_enUS485US559&oq=live+strong&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1535j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=strength
(Viewed on 4/27/16)²
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