Strong Like a Girl

          Lately I have been getting more and more into running. I find it is a great stress-reliever, and can help me gain my focus on what is really important. As I always do when I become interested in something, I started researching more information about running. I wanted to find out the fastest mile times, the best workouts, etc.. As I was reading, I became a little perplexed, and admittedly, a bit frustrated. I was feeling this way because almost every article I read gave different workouts or standard times for girls than it did for boys. Nine out of ten times, the girls' times were slower and the workouts were less rigorous. The very competitive part of me started to wonder why it is that in this modern day, there still seems to be a general feeling that boys are stronger than girls. Also, what does it really mean to be strong?
          Strength, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is "the power possessed physically and energetically, as well as the emotional or mental qualities necessary in dealing with situations or events that are difficult or distressing." I began to think on the second part of this definition in particular. When we look to some of the most influential women in our lives and throughout history, I think it would be more than fair to say that they all possessed a certain emotional and mental strength that is unique to women. Their strength is seen in the work they did to fix something in the world that they saw as wrong, despite everyone around them saying their efforts were useless. I believe that we as girls all possess this same kind of strength. This kind of strength is not always the kind that shows off to friends in competitions. This strength is the constant force in our lives that allows us to take in the stress of every day life and process it to make us better. A girl's strength is not stoic - it does not frown upon emotions. In fact, our emotions are one of the keys to our strength. We as girls have an innate ability to feel in our hearts what is truly right. Our emotions, while sometimes admittedly a bit out of control, are one of our key assets to guiding our decisions in life. I believe that it takes a great deal of strength for us to listen to our hearts and minds at the same time. Finally, unlike the kind of strength used at the gym, ours will never go away. Our strength is kept in our resilient spirit, and is what allows us to say to ourselves "I am strong enough to handle whatever life gives me."