What It Really Means to Be a Strong Woman (Not the Hashtag Version)
Everybody loves to talk about being a “strong woman” these days — until it’s time to actually be one.
Because the real kind of strong? It’s not Instagram quotes or lipstick and hustle. It’s dragging yourself out of bed when your body’s screaming in pain. It’s holding it together while everything around you falls apart. It’s sitting in silence with your own heartbreak and still finding the will to get up, wash your face, and try again tomorrow.
I’ve been called strong my whole life. But let me tell you something — I didn’t earn that title from lifting weights or posting perfect pictures. I earned it from surviving what tried to destroy me. From walking through hell and still managing to smile at strangers. From carrying the weight of my own pain and still making room to feed the people I love.
Being strong isn’t about not breaking — it’s about breaking a hundred times and rebuilding yourself every single time.
Strong women cry in their cars. They fall apart in the shower. They question their worth. They feel the pain deeper than most. But they still show up. Not because it’s easy, but because they don’t know any other way to live.
The world romanticizes strength — but the truth is, it’s lonely sometimes. You get tired of being the one who always holds it together, tired of being everyone’s safe place when nobody knows how to hold space for you. But that’s what makes you powerful — you’ve built a backbone out of the same fire that tried to burn you down.
To me, being a strong woman means being real. Owning your scars. Admitting your limits. Knowing when to walk away and when to keep fighting. It’s not about being unshakable — it’s about being unbreakable in spirit.
So no, you won’t find my kind of strength in a hashtag. You’ll find it in women who’ve been through hell, cleaned up their own mess, and still managed to open their hearts again. That’s real strength. That’s the kind that can’t be filtered or faked.