Yes…I do realize it is funky punctuation.

I think most women are way stronger than they give themselves credit for.

I think we are taught from a very young age, intentionally or unintentionally, to be very humble, to be almost shy or even ashamed of our strength and abilities. We are almost taught to keep our strength to ourselves.

Far too often I hear females brush off compliments and downplay their abilities (sometimes they even completely deny them).

But we need to embrace our strength – we need to acknowledge our awesomeness!

It’s funny, but I really started thinking about all of this when one of my male clients said to me, “You are freaking awesome!” after we were discussing some sort of feat of strength.

Instead of blushing and denying it, I said, “I know, right!?!” (I was partially joking, but at the same time, I was PROUD of what I had accomplished).

And guess what? He didn’t roll his eyes or think I was cocky or conceited. He actually laughed and start to say to the client next to him, “Notice how she didn’t….”

I then interrupted him and said, “Didn’t deny it?”

He laughed again and said, “Yea!”

And I said, “Well I’m proud!”

And he said, “You should be!”

YOU SHOULD BE!

Ok…I’m not suggesting that we walk around saying, “I know!” when someone gives us a compliment. I’m just saying that we should start believing in ourselves and in our abilities.

We should start being proud of our STRENGTH.

Because, guess what!?! IT IS OK TO BE PROUD AND STRONG!

And right now you may be thinking, “Well I’m strong and I don’t have to go around bragging about it to be proud of it.”

Uhm well for one, I’m not suggesting your brag. And two, are you really proud of it if you can’t accept a compliment?

Are you really proud if you have to downplay your abilities?

Are you really proud if you are apologizing and excusing your strength?

Personally, I don’t think so.

Because how much can you truly BELIEVE in yourself if you keep telling yourself and other people you really aren’t that wonderful and strong?

We do start to believe what we tell ourselves and others. Our minds do hear the words coming out of our mouths. And our mind can be tricked into believing the lies….

I’ve seen a change over the years as I’ve gone from excusing and downplaying my strength, my abilities, to embracing them and maybe even, in some people’s eyes, bragging about them.

Heck, if saying “Yes. I am indeed strong” is bragging….GUILTY AS CHARGED….And very proud of it.

My point is that when I stopped denying and downplaying, I started to become even stronger because my mind wasn’t ever hearing that I wasn’t strong enough.

So take a second right now and think about it.

Are you truly proud of your strength?

How often do you recognize and appreciate your abilities when someone gives you a compliment? Or do you generally downplay what you’ve accomplished?

P.S. This post is dedicated to all of you wonderful women that inspire me every day with your strength inside and out of the gym!