What Is And Isn't The True Definition Of Weakness?
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In Africa mostly people measure strength in brawn and not mainly wit and this is because naturally brawn is the physicality we see, it's visible, it's definitive and it's quite clear to see. One thing is, the lack of physical strength isn't weakness. What signifies strength is the ability to show elasticity of patience in tough or difficult circumstances. So then what is weakness? Weakness varies, but then in definition, weakness is the inability to showcase vigour, long-suffering in circumstances that tests one's resolve. This resolve can be mental, physical, or even psychological. Truth is, when a person is in a state of physical pain and that give in to the anguish by showing distressing signs do we really call this weakness?
No, giving in to the pangs of physical pain is natural and the endurance level of every human is different. The human body is fragile and so is the mind and the only thing that makes people rigid is going through series of experience of painful processes in life and coming out better. In reality pain can kill because the ability to feel pain is interconnected to the mind so at the end of the day whether we show physical or psychological pain, it's all interconnected to the mind; the all and powerful. But then we can showcase mental strength in different ways even if we feel physically pain in different degree, the extents of the degree in different people is never a way to quantify or measure someone's strength.
When I was younger, I was mocked for my lanky structure, I couldn't play sports because could gas out, tire out and become really sick. This made me begin to develop the mindset that I was useless. Now this lack of physical strength began to affect my mind and I began to inculcate this invisible wall of limitation. So even before I tried out something I had the conclusion already that I was going to fail. So it was all connected to mind. One of the reasons why disabilities is often seen as inability is because a person might have physical limitations and it would seem like this might affect the height they might tend to reach. This is popular in Africa, a person is often discarded when they fail human standards of normalcy.
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Sometimes when we listen, adhere, inculcate and absorb people's definition of what we are it means we're suggestible and this is what I'll call weakness. When we showcase the inability to allow our own voice be what we listen to amidst other voices trying to coax or goad us, then this is what I'll consider as weakness. Weakness isn't falling apart from the pain we're feeling inside, it's the inability to stand firm and take control of the narratives in our lives. Mind you, no pain is greater, either physical or mental. While this kind of pain can be intertwining, it's imperative to understand that we can easily die from suffering for the both pain. Weakness is often associated with pain but like I said earlier this shouldn't be so. The way we're built or structured doesn't determine our strength because it goes even deeper.
For someone like me, I've suffered a lot of pain but then allowing this pain determine how one's life turns out is what is weakness. It's not about going through pain or not being built to withstand pain. No one is built to withstand pain but then even when we're broken by pain dwelling on it and allowing it to define what one eventually becomes is weakness. Sometimes not being able to get past a horrible experience can be weakness because irrespective of how sentimentally built in us. Sometimes we showcase inner strength to get past an underlying situation in life. Definitely everyone needs to unlock that inner strength to work for them somehow but then it's all the mind, the mind creates all the possibilities.