The Strength I Didn’t Know I Had

Sometimes I catch myself wondering how I made it through certain seasons of my life.

Not in a dramatic way — just in a quiet, reflective pause.

The kind that comes when you finally feel safe enough to look back, instead of just moving forward because you had no choice.

Growing up without both parents shaped me in ways I didn’t fully understand while I was living it.

It wasn’t a strength I chose.

It was a strength I grew because I didn’t have many other options.

Back then, it didn’t feel like resilience or bravery.

It just felt like surviving.

Waking up and doing the next thing.

Holding myself together when there was no one there to hold me.

Learning how to soothe wounds I couldn’t name yet.

Trying to figure out how to love others when I was still trying to learn what love was supposed to feel like.

And yet — here I am.

Not the same girl who had to carry everything by herself.

Not the same heart that had to be strong before it ever got the chance to be soft.

Over time, I’ve learned that strength isn’t always loud.

It’s not always bold or dramatic.

Sometimes it’s quiet.

Sometimes it’s gentle.

Sometimes it looks like getting out of bed, choosing peace, choosing to feel, choosing to heal, even when the past taught you to numb everything instead.

I look back now and I see how much weight I carried alone.

But the “alone” part isn’t the full story.

Because even in the loneliness, God was there.

In the silence, He was there.

In the empty spaces where someone else should have been, He was there.

Holding what I couldn’t.

Keeping what I didn’t have words for.

The strength I thought I built by myself…

was actually grace holding me together the whole time.

Now, I’m learning how to put some of the weight down.

Learning that strength and softness can coexist.

Learning that I don’t have to “handle everything” anymore.

Learning to let God be where I used to fill every gap.

I’m still becoming.

Still healing.

Still growing into the woman I was always meant to be — not just the girl I had to be to survive.

But I’m proud of her.

Both of us.

🤍

— SimplyYewi