How many times have you heard or told your BFF, “Put your big girl panties on and deal with it”? If it were only as easy as changing one’s undies, we’d all be stronger in dealing with life and times and people that bring us down. But although it’s a good, yet trite comeback, how can you really become a stronger you?’ I am so glad you asked!
There Are Lessons to Be Learned
Becoming a strong woman requires learning some hard life lessons; some lessons are learned early in life and others later in life, but each leads you down the road to being a stronger YOU!
You Can’t Save Everyone
One of the hardest things in the world is to cut people out of your life, but you can’t save everyone, especially if they don’t seem to want to be saved or helped. There are family and friends who just need to be cut out of your life, despite how much you love them. If you keep pursuing someone with ways to help them and they have no interest in changing, you can wear yourself out…and some people just don’t want to change because they love to wallow in their mess and have excuses as to why life is so tough for them.
Don’t Settle for Scraps
How many times have you accepted the scraps of someone’s attention when you know you deserve more? We get upset because people treat us a certain way, when with each interaction with those in our lives, we teach them what we will tolerate. If someone doesn’t see your worth as a person in their life, you need to let them go or at least put distance between you and them.
You Gotta Have Faith’
Maybe George Michael was onto something when he said, “You gotta’ have faith!” If you have no idea what I am referencing, look it up. There are periods in life when all looks hopeless and we feel helpless. Even at our lowest, if we have faith in tomorrow being a better day, we can make it through our valleys on the way to life’s peaks. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel is a good way to live.
Take a Hint from Elsa and “Let It Go”
Nothing good comes from hanging on to people that were only meant to be a lesson and not a chapter in your life. Letting go is never easy, but when you learn to stop living in the past and dragging those from your past into your present and then future, the future takes on an entirely new light.
Grudges Only Hurt You
One of the hardest things to do at any age is to forgive someone who never says “I’m sorry” or doesn’t ask for forgiveness. As humans we tend to hang onto grudges. Hate has a way of consuming you and you’re not hurting the person who did you wrong. Resentment has a way of growing and taking over one’s self and it is no way to live. Anger, bitterness, and revenge, have no place in the life of a stronger version of you.
Give Yourself a Break
If you do some introspection, and you truly know you are doing your best as a person in the area of self-love and self-respect, don’t hold yourself to an impossible standard. If you don’t appreciate yourself and all you’ve gone through, you can’t expect anyone else to appreciate you either. In the end, the only person who can truly make a difference in your happiness is YOU! Be in charge of your life and make yourself a priority.
Each one of these lessons will help you see just how strong you are and you can be very proud of the scars you have, some self-inflicted, but others attributable to different people in your life. Regardless, both have combined to make you who you are. Stand strong and love the person you become each day and don’t worry about those big girl panties!
