THE COURAGE OF BEING WEAK

Lastly I was reading a quote from a well known speaker “Vulnerability is not weakness, it is our greatest measure of courage”.

It is one of these memes, that sound so incredibly encouraging when you read it mindlessly while scrolling through social media. You think to yourself, “oh, that sounds nice’, scroll further, just to forget what the quote actually was. But what sticks again is the implication of weakness being a bad thing.

I’d like to suggest a different way of framing: “Allowing oneself to be weak is the most courageous thing one can do.”

Being weak is not bad. It is simply the opposite of being strong. And being strong is not good. Neither strong nor weak has a value by itself. The value follows out of the context. There are moments, that require us to be strong. Every parent knows that, when they need to sooth their child, while themselves being exhausted, or when we need to hold our shit together for the greater good (whatever that means in that moment). There are also moments that require from us to be weak, not as a way of manipulation (that is in fact not weakness but rather a non-kinky way of topping from the bottom), but rather as a way to admit our shortcomings and flaws and from that being able to ask for support. Non of us is perfect after all. And vulnerability is just a consequence of allowing oneself to be weak.

Last but not least, we are social animals, that exist within polarities. It doesn’t work that we are strong all the time, as little as anyone of us is weak all the time. We adapt to the context, may it be relationships, environment, culture, and exist on a spectrum between weak and strong. We are always strong or weak, depending on what we relate ourselves towards.

So why do we struggle so much with admitting, even more, celebrating weakness? I believe, being weak is the most courageous thing you can do in a world that requires people being strong all the time.

(Photo credit CDD via unsplash)