Many people confuse strength with endurance. We learn early to carry emotional weight that isn’t ours — other people’s reactions, expectations, and unresolved pain. Over time, this becomes normal. Survival looks like productivity. Growth looks like silence. And self-abandonment gets mistaken for resilience. Personal growth begins when you realize you don’t have to carry everything to be strong. For a long time, I carried things that were never mine. Not because I had to, but because holding everything together felt like the only way to stay grounded. Other people’s emotions. Their chaos. Their choices. Somewhere along the way, strength became synonymous with self-sacrifice. That kind of strength doesn’t break you…