As I was taking the time to work in “peroneal tendon strengthening” exercises at the gym this morning, I began to consider how we define “strength” in ourselves. I wondered what I consider my strengths and if I view them as a weakness when I miss the mark. I realized as I patiently nurtured my tendons, I consider myself to be physically strong even though some days I have to rein in the level of aggressiveness at which I approach exercises that involve repetitive ankle motion. Counter intuitively, when I am unable to approach my day with creative inspiration or disciplined action I think of myself as weak. I hear my self-abashing voice saying “Get busy, you are creative, you are disciplined, you should be…” Wow, I certainly don’t say to myself in the gym when I am slowed by my ankle, “Get busy, you are strong, push harder!” I know if I did, I would injure myself.  The question to ask is “Why do I choose to injure my self-esteem when I am not exhibiting two of my strongest strengths; being creative and disciplined?”
 
I think we all, from time-to-time, forget to be patient and allow ourselves to shift with the ebb and flow of our energy. We miss the mark of allowing ourselves to be in practice of nurturing the whole of who we are, of taking notice of what parts of ourselves are in need of a little tender loving care. We instead push through by relying on our strengths because we are afraid of being viewed as weak or feeling weak. When truly if we nurture what we perceive as being weak, we are able to return fortified and poised for greatness.
 
In my case, creativity and discipline are quite opposite. Creativity is esoterically driven by the ability to transcend the traditional and discipline is a trained behavior. In order for each of these strengths to serve my goal of wanting to inspire others to live their dreams, they require just as much nurturing energy as do my peroneal tendons in order for my ankles to support the level of physical activity I desire. So today, as I found myself unmotivated, uninspired and lacking discipline feeling as though I was being weak, I closed my eyes, quieted that negative voice and whispered, “You are as creative and disciplined as you need to be for today. All is well and will continue to be. You are enough just the way you are. I love you.”