A painting about growing emotional strength

How does she do it?

she is so strong, I don't know how she does it

Have you ever heard that said?  I’ve not only heard it, but I myself have said it about others.

It’s always spoken with a sort of awe that these women are still able to stand, to carry on, to breathe, to have such inner strength.  They’ve faced dreadful circumstances, ones that we can’t imagine having to endure ourselves - and if we did, we’re fearful that we probably wouldn't survive.  Maybe they’ve survived some sort of abuse, been diagnosed with an illness, lost of a dear friend or family member, or survived some other sort of tragedy.  Yet these are often the women who go on to help others.  They become the coaches, the motivational speakers, and the leaders we look up to.

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How do they do it?

Growth Through Adversity

Theirs is a strength that sometimes comes from simply going through the adversity.  In fact, they are often just like us.  They also probably thought they wouldn't survive when faced with the tragic events unfolding before them.  Somehow though, these women made it through the days, the hours, the minutes.  As time passed and they found themselves still breathing on the other side of intense pain, they probably felt like a miracle had occurred.

We are all these women.  Perhaps we haven’t been abused or been diagnosed with a life-altering illness, but we have all faced adversity.  And adversity makes us grow.  It’s like healing from a small paper cut and gaining faith that our bodies can also heal from larger physical wounds.

We learn that we can heal emotionally from going through the smaller emotional road bumps in life.   Perhaps we found tools during those dark hours that helped us survive like surrounding ourselves in nature, exercising, finding a therapist, or relying on close friendships. Because we’ve survived before, we realize that this means we can survive again.  Like a muscle that grows from being torn apart during exercise, we grow from the lessons that we go through in life. We become stronger.

The Meaning of my Painting "Roots"

​This growth is where I found the inspiration for my painting about strength.  If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know that some of my earlier paintings were of darker emotions.  They portrayed a dark time in my journey and the insecure feelings that came from it.   

I thought long and hard about what positive emotions came during and after I healed.  I realized that I truly did feel stronger, and so was born “Roots”.

In this painting, she looks to a bright future. The branches, almost a part of her, represent reaching out for new goals, and hint at the strong roots she is growing to hold her firm through the storms of life.  The flowers portray that she has grown strong enough to bloom, and also portray her femininity as a strength in and of its own.  Part of the painting was left “unfinished” to show that she will always be growing, and that this is okay.