Dear world
I need you to know
My children make me strong

The kind of love that makes you get up
Show up And Keep going

My life was changed
The moment before I even knew their name

It is a strength That healed me
It is a strength That guides me

Some say It is intuition
Some say It is instinct

I say
It is a strength
It is a super power

My…read more

Dear World,

C.S. Lewis wrote “to love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.” When I think about the question what makes me strong it is the ability to be vulnerable yourself and others even when your heart has been broken. To choose to be seen and known, even when it is hard. As I look at my…read more

I sat in the back of my mom’s Honda and wept, faded blue suitcase wedged into the seat beside me. My mom patiently plugged in the name of my home for the next 3 months into the GPS- “Center for Discovery”. Just the name made my eyes roll of their own accord. Center for Discovery? Sounded like a load of shit name made up to convince kids that they…read more

To whom it may concern,

To an outsider’s perspective, my strength may not seem obvious. As a person with a disability, I am not what the world often shows as its example of strength. I am quite strong, however. What I may often lack in physical strength is more than made up for in less visible types of strength.

At fourteen, I was diagnosed as h…read more

What makes me strong?

Loosing my entire family in an effort to choose and love me, that is what has made me strong. Seeing so clearly in every way possible that the minute I choose me and do something perfectly aligned with my energy and how I like to feel, that the people I love are instantly turned off and in turn treat me differently.…read more

I come from a long line of heavy thoughts. My grandmother, mother, and now myself have all carried schizophrenia in our minds. The heavy thoughts squished my grandmother and burdened my mother…will I be able to carry the load? The question haunts me. Schizophrenia is progressive. The thoughts only get heavier so I have no choice but to get s…read more

What makes me strong?
What has made me last for so long?
How am I still able to wake up and find a song?
How do I feel joy when so much in the world seems to be going wrong?

How did I survive 2 of Liberia’s Civil Wars?
Even in the midst of poverty, how did I keep my sanity with everything I saw?
How was I still able to find my wings and…read more

When you live your life expected to be strong because those around you are ill equipped,
brick by brick, expectations weigh down on top of developing shoulders.

You live your life feeling that everything will fall apart if you,
“the shining star,”
“the healthy one,”
“the eldest,”
bends to dysfunction rather than standing upright.

S…read more

Believing in yourself is the first
Step to building strength that doesn’t rest.

Then, listening to others, not needing
To participate, unjudgemental, hearing
What others need, interject, harboring
Your doubts and advice so as not harming.

Speak my mind, state my faith,
Being proud of my achievements whose breadth
May seem unimportant to…read more

You, me, and everyone in this world face difficult and uncomfortable situations again and again throughout our lives and for some of us, those difficult situations make us stronger day by day. We all must finish our race no matter what because we already have started the journey.

My life was not a fairy-tale. I’ve been pulling myself out of d…read more

What makes you strong? She ponders to herself,
glancing at the reflection across the glass
Surely you know who you are- that familiar face,
an exhibition of the years moving fast
Only through [what they hope will be]
halfway of their life,
They recall like yesterday’s memory-
a time that had unending strife.
And in that duress she started to…read more

i am brave
every time i climb to the top of a tree
not because the branches could give out under me
but because i am finding the way that i grieve
in a place i feel safe enough to pursue peace

i am strong
every time i put my skates on
not because i could fall if my balance is off
it’s ’cause i could have stayed broken-hearted
but instead i’ve…read more

Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s, one of my favorite shows that I’d watch with my parents was Xena: the Warrior Princess. I remember staring in awe as Xena single-handedly defeated her sworn enemies. She represented everything I wanted to be.

Attempting to find a show to entertain myself with, I came across my beloved childhood show. I e…read more