Redefining “Weakness”: How Owning Your Vulnerability Leads To True Strength
Introduction
For thousands of years, it’s been said that showing your emotions and being soft is weakness. Today, more people are speaking up, saying that it’s okay to be emotional, but too many of us are still in an old place of hiding our emotions. In other words, to look strong and be strong is to be emotionless.
How many times have you experienced a personal loss and, to “be strong” for others, you didn’t show how much you were in pain? Now, I’m going to tell you a hard truth: that is not real strength. That is a deeply embedded, unconscious fear against showing your emotions to avoid judgment. That is called mental control, which is considered a type of strength, so you don’t have to face what you’re really hiding.
What Is True Strength?
True strength comes from completely feeling your emotions, especially the uncomfortable ones. To let yourself express every single feeling you have. You experience these emotions for a reason, and the reason was not to suppress them. Hiding your emotions takes mental strength, but showing them takes a deeper level of strength. True strength comes from the heart, not the mind. The mind is about programmed logic, and the heart is about emotional truth. Feeling is not only real strength but healing as well. To laugh fully, to cry fully, and to love fully are gifts of soft strength that are more freeing than any belief that suppression is a solution.
I’ve heard people say this when they are battling a lot inside themselves: “I feel like I’m going to lose my mind!” That is a common line when someone is keeping the mental lid on tight and not letting their emotions out due to the fact that it might look insane. In my perspective, the healthiest thing they could do for themselves is to let themselves lose their mind. Then they might actually find their heart and probably feel a lot better after.
It Is Safe to Cry
Crying is courage. We need to rewrite the narrative around tears and emotional release. Crying is the gateway to deeper emotions and a pathway to bigger realizations. I believe crying needs to be revered, as tears can be the most cleansing water source you can tap into.
Suppressing your emotions creates blocks in the body that can lead to mental, emotional, and physical ailments down the road. Emotional energy never goes away; it just gets tucked away somewhere in the body. The good news is that letting yourself cry can release any stuck, old energy blocks, relieving the body of heaviness so it can feel lighter and healthier.
Conclusion
This post is not just to help you open up the vulnerability and crying in yourself, but to also see it with different eyes when you see and hear someone else crying (a child or an adult). Congratulate them for being brave enough to show their challenging emotions. Be there for them, encourage them and assure them that they can cry and release what they need for as long as they need until they feel complete. Don’t try to calm someone who is crying; let them finish the process that their body needs to be healthy. They will be in a better place for it later if you do.
We are alive to feel. Let them feel, and let yourself feel. Vulnerability is true strength.
Helpful Affirmations
“I let my mind follow my heart.”
“It is safe for me to cry and express how I really feel.”
“I am always surrounded by people who support what I express.”
Try This Today
Find a place you feel safe in—maybe somewhere in your home or car—and place your awareness on your heart and whatever you may be feeling today. Set an intention to let go of any emotional heaviness you may be carrying, and then let your body’s natural intelligence do what it needs to do. Whether that is coughing, shaking, yawning, or best yet, crying, let go of control and let as much out as you can.
Note: Never project what you are releasing onto another person. It’s fine to have someone be there for you, but they should never be the target for any anger or frustration that may come out.
Wishing you love & liberation
Janette
