You may feel weak, but you're actually strong

Every morning while driving to work, I usually listen to a particular San Diego radio station that has daily positive/motivational segments to get my day started. Here's one of the powerful ones:

Ok so over the weekend I met this woman. She was a 45 year old single mother of two who's had her fair share of ups and downs in life. Her mother passed away recently leaving her to care for her father. She has lupus and suffered a stroke which put her in the hospital and out of work for a good while. She's been used and abused by some horrible men. And she's just kind of given up on the idea of ever being happy again. As she was telling me her story she seemed a little weathered, definitely over worked and worn out, but had the wisdom of someone that's lived way beyond the 45 years she shows on her birth certificate. With a tear in her eye she asked me, "Geena, what do I do? What is the purpose of life? And why do all these bad things keep happening to me? Does it ever stop? I feel worthless" As I looked at her, I could see the pain in her eyes. I could see all the hurt she's been through and I could see the anguish that has lived inside her for years. But beyond all that, if one were to look deeper they would see what I saw; a beautiful woman. A youthful woman with a heart of gold. I told her, "I know you've had a tough life. And I can tell you feel worn out and stressed. And I know when you look in the mirror you may think you see a worthless woman. But you know what I see. I see a strong woman. I see a woman who's been able to fight all these battles and is still here alive and fighting. I see a woman whose tiredness on her face just shows me how hard she's worked to raise two beautiful kids and how hard she's still working to put food on the table for her family. I see a woman, who has overcome many struggles, and who is still overcoming struggles but those are the struggles that have made her who she is today. A strong woman, a hard working woman, a woman with perseverance, a woman who could've gave up a long time ago, but has chosen not to. What I see standing in front of me right now, is one of the strongest women I've ever met and a woman I can only hope to aspire to be like one day. Quote of the day comes from William Durant: He once said, "Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget about everything except what you're going to do now - and do it."