Strength Is Getting In the Water

Eleanor Roosevelt said: “A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” 

I really enjoy a cuppa. I don’t mind to make it with my Tassimo or with a mug of steaming water and a tea bag.

I like plain ole Lipton tea, and I like gourmet flavored teas. I like some teas brewed black and others barely darker than the water itself.

It depends on the type of tea I’m drinking.

But regardless of the type of tea leaves I buy, regardless of the product I purchase to make it in, if I never submerse the tea in hot water, the tea leaves will never make tea.

Have you ever been to a conference, or even to work, and heard someone touted as amazing, strong, or unbelievable? Have you ever listened to a list of accolades and thought to yourself, “Well of course! They live a charmed life! If my childhood/background/career/etc. was the same as theirs I’d be amazing, too!”?

Yeah, I have a hard labeling people who haven’t had to fight their way up from the bottom or overcome insurmountable odds as amazing and strong.

How can someone who hasn’t ever been challenged demonstrate strength?

However, I always cheer for the underdog.

You know, the one that steps up to the task and everyone says, “No way. Never gonna happen. They couldn’t do that if their life depended on it.”

And they go to work. 

Strength isn’t always completing the goal. It isn’t always finishing first, winning the prize, getting the promotion, or being invited onto the stage while someone sings your praises.

Strength is getting in the water and making it darker.

Sometimes it barely takes on a pinkish hue, and other times it turns downright black. 

But if you don’t get in the water, don’t tell me how strong you are. 

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photo credit: S.C. Asher via photopin cc