The Strength In Her Eyes

Strength is a powerful word for a powerful feeling. It is the ability to rise above what life throws at you. It is allowing yourself to feel the darkness of the world while never losing sight of the wonder that surrounds you every day. Strength is finding humor in the worst moments of your life and still seeing the possibilities ahead of you. It is taking the time to learn and educate yourself and others while holding your head high. Being mentally strong isn't about holding in your emotions; it is instead about learning how to grow from them. Learning how to make them work for you instead of against you.

 A strong person may feel like they are incapable of something, but they will try their best anyway. They go for things head on and with caution casing at their heals. Someone with true strength may not look strong, but you will see it in their eyes. Steady and strong like smooth tempered steel. There is a reason temperament is used when talking about someone's personality as well as the process of making steel. It is because someone who is strong has been tempered. They have been broken and built themselves back up, they have been in the fire, and they have survived the hammering of life.They have done this repeatedly until unbreakable.

Tempering while unpleasant makes us wise, empathetic, and strong. It is essential to being a well-rounded human. Nothing will break a truly strong person because they have learned how to bend and they will rise above whatever gets in their way. This is not to say that they will not feel like they are breaking, they will. It is to say that they will fight back. A strong individual is often mistaken for weak because they care, for others and for themselves fiercely. You never know how strong someone truly is until you see them under pressure. That is when you get to see it flash in their eyes like a well-crafted blade; glinting off whatever is in their way. Everyone has the potential to handle more than they may ever even know. That is the beauty of hidden strength, it hides in such an obvious place, after all the eyes are the windows to the soul. 

Model: Lauren Millar

Photographer: Alison Yardley