What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger is Bullsh*t

You’ve heard it. You’ve probably even said it.

"What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger."

It’s the kind of phrase we throw around like a badge of honor. A survival mantra. A way to convince ourselves that if we just push through if we endure enough, suffer enough, prove ourselves enough then somehow, we’ll come out the other side better for it.

And if you’ve been living by that belief, I need you to hear this:

That might be the very thing keeping you stuck.

Because let’s be honest, what doesn’t kill you?

It doesn’t always make you stronger.

Sometimes it just wears you down.
Sometimes it leaves you so damn exhausted that even the thought of taking one more step feels impossible.
Sometimes it convinces you that this, this heavy, relentless, soul-draining way of living is just how it is.

And that? That’s not strength.

That’s survival.

When Did We Start Confusing Strength with Suffering?

Somewhere along the way, we learned that our ability to endure was proof of our strength.

That if we could handle more - more pressure, more expectations, more stress, more things we should be able to manage, then we were doing it right.

But let me tell you from experience: the ability to tolerate more sh*t does not mean you’re thriving.

It just means you’ve gotten really good at functioning in dysfunction.

It means you’ve convinced yourself that pushing through is just part of the deal. That this is what strong individuals do.

But I have to ask you, for what?

Where does it end?

At what point do you finally get to put the weight down?

Because if strength only ever looks like "handling more," then all you’re doing is teaching yourself how to carry a load that was never yours to bear in the first place.

Real Strength? It Looks Different.

Real strength isn’t in how much you can endure.

It’s in knowing when to stop enduring.

It’s in having the courage to say:
🛑 "I don’t have to keep doing this."
🛑 "Just because I can handle it doesn’t mean I should."
🛑 "I don’t need to prove my worth through suffering."

Because being strong doesn’t just mean surviving hard things.

Strong is also when you decide enough is enough.

The Shift You Didn’t Know You Needed

If you’ve been convincing yourself that pushing through is the only way forward if you’ve been measuring your strength by how much you can take, I see you.

But I also need you to see this:

You don’t have to live like this.

You don’t have to keep proving yourself by how much you endure.

You can start proving it by choosing yourself. By recognising when it’s time to step back, step out, and step into something that actually fuels you instead of drains you.

Because the strongest I know?

They’re not the ones who’ve survived the most pain.

They’re the ones who decided they didn’t have to anymore.

So tell me, what’s one thing you’ve been enduring that you’re ready to let go of?