Tensile Strength: What Are You Made Of?
As I celebrate another birthday, I’ve been reflecting on the things that test us, stretch us, and sometimes bring us to our knees. It brought me to an interesting concept in engineering called tensile strength—the measurement of how much pulling force, heat and weight steel can withstand...before it breaks.
Before steel is trusted to support a bridge, it’s tested. I started thinking about how much that resembles our own lives.
We all experience tension. Heartbreak, anguish, disappointment, loss, betrayal, and circumstances we never would have chosen. But what if being tested doesn’t necessarily mean we’re being broken? What if some of those experiences reveal where we need to grow, heal, and strengthen our foundation?
This isn’t about glorifying suffering, becoming hardened, or pretending pain doesn’t hurt. It’s about learning to develop resilience without losing our compassion, faith, or humanity.
Through recovery, faith, personal responsibility, and perseverance, we can build something internally strong enough to carry the weight of life.
And perhaps the greatest purpose of that strength is to help someone else cross their own difficult bridge.
You can have a soft heart and a strong structure.
Rise Regardless.
Wishing you the strength of steel,
Annie