What makes a strong person?

And can a "weak" person ever be strong?

I think people all have their strong and weak points. I think strength comes from within, experience, compassion, kindness, the ability to listen to others and not judge etc it depends what you mean by 'strong'.

A lot of 'weak' people are often misinterpreted imho, the ones who are called 'weak' are often the strong ones. People who appear 'strong' often use this guise to cover up insecurities. Only my opinion though.

love, Jinny xoxoxoxoxoxox

It could be that you are not weak, just not focused.

(((((((((( Fuzzy )))))))))))

I agree, jinny!

Well, not focused is true of me, for sure!

(((((((((((( froggy ))))))))))))

I consider myself to be a strong person. not saying I don't have my weak moments from time to time. I think my strength came from my abusive mother. when you are put down I feel it can go either way. me? I had to prove myself to her. still she was the same. so I did it for myself. I proved I was not the stupid person she made me to believe I was.

(((((((((((((( bebop )))))))))))))

Why not - no one is "weak" in everything. Everyone on the planet has different strengths and weaknesses. For a silly example I get the creeps over lizards so everytime the cat brings in one to play with I scream (literally) for my roommate to come rescue me and the lizard. Then my roommate, he freaks out over roaches - I grew up in Florida so to me they are no big deal. Soooo everytime the cat brings one of those creatures in to play with my big strong roommate he screams like a girl and I come and rescue him and the roach. See everyone is strong in some things and maybe not so strong in others - and then the really neat thing is that we are often strong when we don't think we could be but when we must. Take care Fuzzybear - sorry for rambling.

yeah, i guess i don't think that 'strong' or 'weak' constitutes a single trait. people can be 'strong' in some respects and 'weak' in others, and people can vary over time with respect to how stressful they are finding life etc etc etc.

i think that emotional strength... is a kind of emotional resilience. i don't really have that. i'm fairly weak emotionally. my emotions leak out and i don't have a great deal of control over them. i'm not terribly resilient to criticism or to people joking. i'm not very good at acting contrary to my emotions (e.g., if i don't feel like getting up it is hard to get up, if i don't feel like working it is hard to work). emotional resilience might be the ability to deal with stressful situations rather than being floored by them.

i think that physical strength... is fairly self explanatory.

some people have this notion of strength as... well... um... something like the soprano's where people know not to %#@&#! you over. i guess i have trouble understanding that concept of strength, however. i guess this notion is relative (something along the line of a hierarcy or pecking order).

i think that people can develop skills to be stronger / more resilient. yup.

Thanks for your post

I always have had a problem with the concept of being strong. I saw people who looked like they were able to handle everything that life threw them in a confident manor.....but what was going on inside while they were doing that? How much of the self confident front was it that made it look like it was so easy for them?

I know that for me, I had a lot of things thrown at me from the time I was a child & didn't have the option of not handling the problems or not.....each time I had another problem to take care of, the easier it got to handle.....& the stronger & more confident I got at handling the things that were thrown at me. When others had problems, they would come to me for advice & most of the time, I could provide reasonable suggestions to help them.

Then came the time when I fell apart. I fell into a million pieces & couldn't figure out what end was up or what the next thing I had to do was. I felt like my world was falling apart, but I was the strong one who always had the answers....only it wasn't that way anymore. No one could accept the way I was....because it wasn't the me they knew I was. It was difficult for me to have anyone realize that I was as bad off as I really was. The frustration grew so bad & it felt like everything around me was falling apart. With that came the suicidial feelings. I couldn't help myself.....I had no strength to pull myself through anything & I couldn't get help from anyone....I never needed help before....why should she need help now? I felt like there was no way out & where I was wasn't something I was willing to live with so what was the purpose of living? I felt completely lost & that there was no way back to the person I had been.

Years later, & many suicide attempts later, I have found that strong person again......& that person feels even a bit stronger than before. The previous strength just kind of happened based on things I had observed......the strength now is more based on things I have experienced & been able to look back on & figure out what had really happened.

Debbie

I think all of us are strong in our own ways. Being able to stand up for what yo ubelieve in is a strong trait. Sometimes just making it threw the day makes you strong.
Sometimes being supportive and helpful is being strong. It is all our choice what we choose to beliave. Fuzzy I think you are a strong person.

Strengths and weaknesses are all relative to each individual. It is something we feel inside (or not). It can also be perceptions of ourselves from others. While I consider myself to be a strong person emotionally, I still have times of weaknesses that I don't get through very well at times. I also believe it matters when situations happen and what frame we are in what they happen. Sort of like the straw that breaks the camels back in a way. If we are feeling strong, then issues that pop up don't seem to bother us and we get through them without too much thinking or emotions...but when we are in a low place and the same thing happens, we don't always handle those situations well. As I said, it's all relative

Hugssssssss
sabby

very true Sabby
good post