The Lies We’ve Been Fed

Apparently, strength means waking up at 5am, crushing your color-coded to-do list, and thriving in endless meetings without ever letting your mind drift to the coffee stain on your shirt, whether your kid packed their homework, or how many emails are silently judging you in your inbox.
No daydreams allowed. No brain fog. No forgetting what you walked into the room for.
Cool. Cool. Cool.
Don’t mind me—I’ll just be over here searching for my keys again and wondering if I turned off my flat iron.

Who Made the Rules?

Somewhere along the way, someone decided that “strength” had to look a certain way: neat, polished, linear, predictable.
And then — just for fun — they decided those exact traits were also the gold standard for professionalism.
So what happened next? A lot of us started believing a dangerous little lie:
“If I don’t have those strengths, then I must not be…”

Good enough
Smart enough
Professional enough
Successful enough

(Insert your own flavor of shame here — the list is basically endless.)
But here’s the thing: just because your strengths don’t look like theirs doesn’t mean they aren’t valid. Or powerful. Or worth building a whole damn life around.

But that’s not where the story ends.

So what do you do if your brain prefers chaos over checklists… or intuition over spreadsheets?
Most likely:

You’ve learned to stay quiet.
You’ve masked your magic.
You’ve played it safe, stayed small, or convinced yourself that something was wrong with you.

Or maybe you’ve been the loud one — the bold, quirky, “too much” one — and felt like an outcast for daring to show up as your full self in spaces that didn’t know what to do with you.

Either way? You’ve been trying to survive in systems that were never built with your brain in mind. And that’s not a personal failure — that’s a structural one.

So… What Is Strength, Then?

If it’s not inbox zero, bullet journals, or sitting still for 90 minutes in a strategy meeting… then what is it?

Let me tell you what strength actually looks like — especially for neurodivergent, creative, or nontraditional brains:

💡 Idea avalanches that hit while you’re brushing your teeth or pacing the room with a snack in hand.
🧠 Seeing connections no one else sees — because your brain doesn’t do straight lines, it does spiderweb brilliance.
🫶 Feeling deeply — and still showing up for others, even when you’re overwhelmed yourself.
🔥 Hyperfocus that makes you a creative powerhouse when you're lit up by purpose.
🎭 Humor as survival — cracking jokes mid-chaos, because that’s how you process, cope, and connect.
🎯 Doing things differently on purpose — not to rebel, but because you know the rules aren’t working.

These are not flaws.
They’re not side effects.
They’re not “areas for improvement.”

They are strengths. Full stop.

Let’s Reframe the “Flaws”

You’ve probably been told your entire life that certain parts of you need “fixing.” But maybe those things aren’t the problem — maybe the framework is.

Let’s play a game I like to call: Rebrand the Trait You Were Shamed For.

“You’re disorganized.”
→ I’m a nonlinear thinker who thrives in fast-moving, creative spaces.
“You can’t focus.”
→ I need meaning to activate. When it matters, I’m unstoppable.
“You’re too sensitive.”
→ I’m emotionally intuitive and pick up what others miss.
“You talk too much.”
→ I’m a natural communicator who brings energy and clarity into every space.
“You’re too much.”
→ I’m just not interested in shrinking. And that makes people uncomfortable.

You are not a problem to be solved. You are a force to be unleashed.

Real Strength Feels Like…

Strength isn’t about following rules you didn’t write.
It’s knowing what works for you.
It’s building a life and career that doesn’t require you to mask, shrink, or edit yourself down to be palatable.
It’s waking up one day and realizing that you don’t have to become “better” — you just need to become more you.
That is authenticity, and it can never be duplicated.

That’s when things shift. That’s when clarity comes. That’s when confidence builds. Not from perfection — but from permission.

Still a Work in Progress: Real Talk from Me, the Coach and Entrepreneur

Look, I’m not gonna pretend I woke up one day and nailed this whole “own your strengths” thing. Spoiler: I’m still working on it every damn day. Especially as an entrepreneur, where you’re wearing all the hats (sometimes simultaneously) and the pressure to “have it all together” is relentless.
(Side note: I wanted to write aspiring or wannabe entrepreneur in the title soooo bad!)

One of the biggest tools in my toolbox? Affirmations.
Yeah, I know. That sounds kinda woo-woo and maybe a little icky at first. (I definitely rolled my eyes when I first tried it.) But here’s the thing — saying out loud, or writing down, things like:

“I am enough exactly as I am.”
“My unique brain is a superpower, not a setback.”
“I don’t have to fit in to stand out.”
“I am worthy of success on my own terms.”
“I’m allowed to take breaks and still be productive.”
“I am so creative.”
“People come to me to solve problems.”

…they do something. They slowly start to shift the noise in your head from “not good enough” to “hell yes, I’ve got this.”

Does it feel weird or fake at first? Absolutely. But it’s a muscle — the more you flex it, the stronger your confidence grows.
(Shhh… I’m sneaking some CBT into the convo!)

If you’re struggling with your own inner critic, I highly recommend giving affirmations a shot. Your future self will thank you.

If You’re Nodding Along…

Then I want to tell you this: you’re not broken. You’re brilliant.
But brilliance looks different here. It might be messy. Unpredictable. Spicy.
But it’s also magic.

🧠 Ready to Figure Out Your Strengths?

If you’re tired of trying to be “normal” and ready to start owning your real strengths, check out my coaching packages where clarity and confidence are always on the menu. We’ll uncover your magic, ditch the shame, and create a life or career that actually fits your brain.
Because the world doesn’t need more people following the script — it needs more people writing their own.

Forget What You’ve Been Told—Here’s What Real Strength Looks Like