Be strong when you are weak...

I recently came across a quote by Michelle Moschetti...
“Be strong when you are weak. Be brave when you are scared. Be humble when you are victorious.”

This quote stuck with me because of the sheer dichotomy between the two things... how can you be strong when you are weak? How can you be brave when you are scared? Is it possible to be humble when you are victorious?

Being weak is not a negative quality. It is okay to admit that you wanted that job that you did not get. It is alright to cry because a person you thought was a friend betrayed you. It is fine that you shut yourself out because you lost someone you loved and your world fell apart. All these things that test our inner strength can sometimes make us feel that we are weak and cannot handle pain. So when everything seems to be going against us, how do we stay strong?

I once heard this line... "When the world pushes you down to your knees, you are in the perfect position to pray". Here pray does not merely mean praying to God. There are people who find strength in prayer, who believe that there is a divine being who is looking after them. So in these times, they turn to God for strength and for hope. There is also another power, a power that we have within us. At the cost of sounding cliched, I have to say that we often underestimate the strength that we have. The strength in the form of parents, families, friends, our own skills, hobbies... these are things we forget when the weight of our troubles makes us feel weak. To be strong when we are at our lowest is not at all easy and there are times when it feels impossible. The important thing is to acknowledge weakness, make peace with it but never give in to it. 

The monsters under our beds are now monsters within us. These are monsters we fight every day... depression, fear of losing our loved ones, fear of failure... there are times when I feel so scared of my future that I am unable to deal with my present. So how do we be brave when we are scared?

As we learned in Harry Potter (and echoed throughout history), "the only thing to fear is fear itself". While Harry was bewildered when he heard this, what it means is that the source of fear is often out of our control but what we can control is our reaction to it. That is the only way to face our demons, accept that there will always be things outside our control and the only way to not be scared of them is to prepare ourselves to the best of our abilities and believe that "help will always come to those who deserve it".

There are times when everything is going great in life. Plans are working out, the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place and everything is great. When we are winning in life, is it possible to remain grounded? It is not wrong to praise ourselves or bask in our victories. In fact, being happy with yourself is a very important quality. But when does it transcend into empty pride and ego?

I used to write a quote on my office whiteboard... "Keep smiling, the worst is yet to come". 

While a lot of people told me, it was an unnecessarily negative quote, I had two reasons for it. One, when I was down, it reminded me that things could be a lot worse and that gave me the strength to carry on with a smile. Secondly, it would remind me to be humble and not take things for granted because tomorrow could bring difficulties and new things to learn. And if you are wondering about the other quote written across the board, "No one is free... Even the birds are chained to the sky", it is another line which I heard and it stuck in my mind. This line also helps me stay grounded and be in touch with reality.

The real attempt of this blog is to remind ourselves that there will be times when we will be down... those are the times to look for the strength that we already have and it will surprise us. And also that there will be times when pride can create disillusion... that is when a reality check will help us.