SEPTEMBER 2, 2026 - PEAK POSE: FLYING PIGEON

We're not getting any younger...

"F “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”.

I know; Nietzsche said it; Kelly Clarkson sang it. And somewhere along the way, many of us adopted it as a personal life motto.

Endure the hard thing. Survive the painful thing. Push through the exhausting thing. And when you make it to the other side, you are supposed to stand tall, throw your hands in the air, and celebrate how much stronger you have become.

But I, for one, am tired of getting stronger that way.

I have survived things that should have taken me out. I have walked through fires that reshaped me. I know what it means to rebuild, to rise, to keep going when going felt nearly impossible. And yes, those seasons forged strength in me that I am grateful for.

But lately, a quieter wisdom has been tapping me on the shoulder.

Maybe life is not only meant to make us stronger. Maybe it is meant to make us softer too. Wiser. More open. More capable of receiving joy without bracing for the next blow.

Maybe the goal is not to keep proving how much we can survive, but to create lives where survival mode is no longer the baseline. Lives where peace is allowed. Where ease is not something we have to earn through suffering. Where growth can come through love, creativity, connection, and meaning, not just hardship.

Strength will always be part of my story. It is part of many of ours.

But I am not sure I want pain to be my primary teacher anymore.

So while Nietzsche and Kelly both made powerful points, I think I am ready for a new inner anthem. One that allows expansion without devastation. Healing without another storm. Wisdom without another wound.

How about you? Are you still living by “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger”? Or are you ready for a season that strengthens you more gently?"

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