Hey there. For a long time, I thought strength meant keeping a wall up. I told myself that if someone hurt me, the best way to deal with it was to show them I didn’t care or to find a way to make them feel what I felt. But the truth is, that kind of reaction never healed anything. It only made the pain louder inside me.
In fitness, we know that resistance builds strength, but we also learn that recovery builds growth. Muscles don’t get stronger while we’re breaking them down. They rebuild during rest, repair, and time. Emotional healing works the same way. We can’t outwork our pain by hardening ourselves or by trying to push it onto others. We have to face it, process it, and let it go.
Letting go doesn’t mean pretending it didn’t hurt. It means choosing not to live in that hurt anymore. It means understanding that holding onto resentment keeps you in a cycle that drains your energy, your focus, and your peace. When I started to approach emotional healing the same way I approach my fitness journey, things started to shift. I stopped chasing payback and started chasing peace.
There’s a calm that comes with realizing you don’t need to prove anything to the people who hurt you. You don’t have to show them your worth or make them regret what they did. You just have to keep showing up for yourself. Every workout, every mindful meal, every quiet moment of reflection becomes proof that you’re moving forward without carrying the weight of anger with you.
This perspective doesn’t just apply to relationships. It shows up in work, family, and even how we treat ourselves. Sometimes we direct that hurt inward and become our own target. We criticize, restrict, and punish ourselves in the name of discipline. But real strength isn’t about punishment. It’s about compassion.
When you let go of trying to hurt those who hurt you, you start reclaiming your power. You learn that your healing doesn’t depend on anyone else’s apology or validation. It depends on your willingness to work through the pain, one step at a time.
If you’re ready to build strength from the inside/out, not from bitterness but from healing, join me in The YLF Experience. Let’s work through the pain and grow beyond it together.