Strong Enough to be Weak

Strong Enough to be Weak

Are you strong enough to be weak? For so many of us, strength has become synonymous with carrying it all. We’re the ones people depend on. The ones with full plates and not just one plate, but the soup bowl, the salad, the entrée, dessert, and a drink balanced carefully in one trip. We know what we’re carrying and we know that if we set it down, something might slip, be delayed, or that we may disappoint someone, so we keep going even when it’s heavy.

It's not always tasks, for many it's grief, loss, shock, change, and just life changes. We’re expected to show up anyway, even when company policies quietly tell us that three or five days is enough time to process something that reshapes our entire world. We don’t actually get time to grieve; we get time to make arrangements and keep moving.

We show up, but it's not all of us...we are not whole. 

Many of us didn’t choose to be “the strong one.” It’s just who we had to become. Not something to brag about, just something that formed us through responsibility, expectation, and survival. Talking about weakness can sound so weak and unattractive, but deep down we desperately wish we could let go with the hopes that all of our responsibilities would levitate, but fully understanding the consequences.

That’s where the question shifts.

Are we strong enough to be weak?

From another angle, we could say that weakness isn’t collapse, it’s release. It’s exhaling. It’s closing our eyes and choosing rest even when tomorrow is already full. It’s admitting “I can’t” without apologizing. It’s loosening our grip just enough to breathe again.

Not everyone has systems or support or margin built into their lives. Not everyone can lean back into what’s often called a “soft life.” Many of us are wired to accomplish, to pursue, to keep moving forward. But even then, there’s space between holding everything and letting go of something.

Either way, carrying it all alone eventually asks for a cost.

So maybe the question becomes less about weakness and more about intention. What can we put down? What can we delegate? What needs better planning? And what is worth giving more energy to now so it can come off our plate later?

Even when we’re tired. Even when we’re not thinking clearly. What is the one thing that, if handled fully, could create relief in the next cycle instead of carrying it forward again?

We don’t have all the answers here. This is a real-life conversation for real people navigating real weight while still being expected to show up, solve problems, lead, innovate, and care for others. That’s exactly why this conversation matters.

It takes strength to be weak because most of us don’t want to disrupt anyone. We don’t want to fall apart loudly. We want to lay down gently. We want to rest without becoming a burden, but strength sometimes looks like admitting we don’t know how and being honest enough to say that out loud.

So, we open the conversation.

How do we become weak in healthy, intentional ways? Where do we need temporary release? What has been sitting on our plate too long? And what would it look like to let go without letting everything burn?

If this resonates, we invite you to listen to the full episode, share your thoughts, and add your perspective. Our responses won’t be the same, but together, they might spark something helpful for someone else. We’re learning in community, one honest conversation at a time.

Visit kimunitysoulutions.com to explore the Questions & Perspectives conversation cards, and stay connected with us as we keep talking about leadership and humanity within and beyond the workplace.