As we're exploring STRENGTH this month at Scrapbooking from the Inside Out, I'm amazed at the great layouts we're seeing from our members about what it means to be a strong woman.
Some think there’s a tension between strength and femininity. What do you think? Do you subscribe to traditional views of masculinity and femininity? Do women wield different sorts of power than men? Do you see yourself as powerful, and in what ways? Who are women of great strength that you can think of, and how have they influenced your life?
And are we getting stronger as we get older? Is it all about physical strength, or is there a strength in wisdom?
Tell me what strength means to you and you'll be entered to win a subscriber premuum gift pack from SFTIO...please leave your comment before 5PM Pacific on Friday...
Love,
Rachel
6 comments:
I love this post Rachel. I have been surrounded by strong women all my life. There is something to be said about women and the ability to do what needs to be done!. My mother raised three children all by herself. I was the oldest, at the age of three she had the courage to divorce my father who was a drunk and abusive. With a high school diploma she went to work, my grandmother moved to where we were to help raise us. She never went on welfare(too proud)and my father never paid child support. As kids we had no idea what she went through to make ends meet and we never went without anything. It is only as an adult that I realized what a strong and amazing woman she truly is.
This is a thought provoking post. I think there is a tension between strength and femininity because our society tends to make strength a male trait and thus we need to be like a male. However, I think that it takes a lot of strength to embrace the natural tendencies of a woman - to nuture others, to create a safe home environment, to be spiritually minded. There are days it takes a lot of strength to not kill my kids. ;-)
We can be strong and be proud to be a woman. To be strong doesn't always mean we need to defy or to be brash or pushy. It takes just as much strength to quietly do what needs to be done, even if it isn't recognized by others.
To me being strong means to figure out how to "conquer" those things you don't think you are capable of doing. Don't be afraid to try new things.
Jane
Wow, great post - I just discovered your site. My grandmother raised 4 boys basically by herself. Now that I have children I realize how much inner strength she must have had. I think strength is when you carry on with your goals even when it seems you can't.
Iknow I'm late in posting but wanted to anyway. Strength to me means being able to live through horrible, painful (emotionally or physically or both) and sometimes debilitating experiences and still be able to smile (when you'd rather cry) and harbor very little ill-will toward those experiences.
My mother suffered from ovarian cancer for almost four years before the cancer won the war. On the surface, even though you could see she wasn't feeling well, she lived life as best as she could with a smile on her face. Only after reading her journal when she passed did I know the true extent of her feelings of "weakness" that she so bravely and with great strength trampled over while we all watched. I so admire her.
(Kai)
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