How to Measure Strength 101

When you think of strength what’s the first thing that comes to mind? For me, it’s Popeye and spinach – all he needed was a can of green power and he could accomplish feats of manly strength. This week we’ll be sharing our ideas on what strength of body, mind and soul mean to us.

I don’t need my body to perform superwomen feats of strength in order to feel strong, I simply want to run up any hill in my path- reach the top and keep on going. I think energy and strength are interlinked for how can one be strong without energy? Don’t muscles fatigue without a boost of food which is basically energy? Hello, Popeye+spinach. I guess strength then is what we believe our bodies are capable of doing — running up hills, check. Lifting 200 pounds, nope.

Strength of mind and soul is a whole other ballgame – there’s no amount of spinach in the world that can make one more self-disciplined. How does one measure strength of mind? Is it the number of tasks one can get done in a day without losing one’s head? Is it putting up with trying circumstances while forging ahead and solving life’s problems? Or is strength measured at the moment when choices have forced you into a dark corner and you choose to try one more time at this thing we call life? Oh, okay – maybe it’s not so intense – it could be that patience we reach for at all the trivial slights and epithets life throws our way.

However we measure strength I think we can all agree it’s better to be strong than weak, and hills are always meant to be run up.

[Img.Src: airplane over hills]