The strongest souls that you will ever meet are the ones that hurt the most, cry the most and feel the most.
The strongest souls are the ones that don’t go around showing what they are feeling in the inside. They are the ones that fight so many inner battles, they are the ones that hide their pain behind a smile. The strongest souls are the ones that hide their suffering, behind “I am okay” or “I am fine”.
The strongest souls fall apart, alone and in private.
The strongest souls are the ones that cry silently behind closed doors, sobbing out the pain and suffering. The strongest souls have soaked their pillow with rivers of tears, their tears have left stains on the sheets and their bed has been the witness to the most heartbreaking stories. The four walls in the bedroom have become the home of their own personal living hell.
The strongest souls wake up every morning ready to tackle whatever obstacle dare stand in their way. They stick to their daily routines because that’s how they feel like they have a certain amount of control over their lives. The strongest souls go about their day, put on a brave face and pretend that the pain is not devouring them on the inside.
The strongest souls hide their pain. The strongest souls won’t show their pain because they fear being judged and showing their vulnerability. They hide in their shell made of steel to suffer alone, quietly, and without anyone noticing. The strongest souls don’t want others to know that behind that hard shell, inside they are breaking.
The strongest souls are warriors fighting secret battles. Their metal armour has dents and is worn out. The silent battles have left them scarred. The strongest souls have bruises and many wounds that are not visible to the human eye, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t hurt or that they don’t exist. The strongest souls don’t physically bleed, but they bleed on the inside.
The strongest souls suffer in silence.
The strongest souls believe that they don’t have the space to have a weak moment. The strongest souls feel very cautious about talking to someone about their worries, fears, problems and self-doubts. The strongest souls keep their emotions bottled up and keep to themselves because it’s too difficult to put in words everything that they are feeling. For the strongest souls it’s not easy to talk out loud about the things that are hurting them.
The strongest souls hide their suffering. The world has taught them that showing your feelings and emotions means that you’re weak and you’re pathetic. The world has taught them that you must be tough, you must be stoic, you must only show strength. Because in this ruthless world only the strong ones win. The world has taught them that the strong ones don’t complain and deal with everything.
The strongest souls have learned to stand through vehement storms even when they wanted nothing more than to vanish and hide in the darkest until the pain became bearable.
As the strong one, you stand in your conviction of who you are and your ability to walk through hell and back. You know that you will get back up time and time again when life knocks you down regardless of the adversities that cross your path.
As the strong one, it’s easy to look around and see a bunch of people who seem to be doing fine, but they are not. We all are struggling and suffering in our own way. Remember that no one is exempt from pain.
As the strong one, it is very difficult to share our vulnerabilities and pain. It’s an unhurried and tedious process, but we all deserve to stop suffering in silence and to have someone who understands us.
Many of us suffer in silence until one day we just can’t take anymore, and we break into a million pieces. The silent chisels away at us until we turn into a different person and we lose ourselves in the mute world that we have created. Suffering in silence leads to trauma. Suffering in silence leads to taking our frustrations in negative ways. Suffering in silence only brings more pain and misery. But when we open up instead of hiding, things eventually get better.
Yes, we are strong, but we are also human.
You don’t have to suffer in silence about the pain you feel, and about the things that are hurting you. You don’t have to suffer in silence about the things that you cannot control. You don’t have to suffer in silence about the emptiness that you feel every day. You don’t have to suffer in silence about the things you cannot change.
You, the strong one, you are allowed to feel, you are allowed to hurt, you are allowed to weep, but you don’t have to suffer in silence alone. Be kind to yourself. Love yourself. Know that even the strongest souls need someone sometimes. Don’t hesitate to reach out to someone. Don’t let the unspoken words that you hold inside eat you alive. Don’t be ashamed to share your deepest and most personal thoughts. Don’t let suffering be the conductor of your life. Take the wheel, drive away from what is hurting you and keep driving forward.
Suffering is part of life, suffering is inevitable but don’t make it a permanent destination.
Learn from it. Grow from it. And let it go.
By Mitzi J Hernandez for ThoughtCatalog