What Makes You Feel Strong?

Take a moment and review all the stages of your life and development. Throughout the course of your life, when did you feel your strongest? When you think of strength, think of it holistically (physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually). Where were you when you felt strong? What were you doing? Were you outdoors in the woods? Climbing a mountain? Who were you with? Or, were you by yourself?

Lately, I've been thinking about strength, so I decided to do an informal survey of different men that I know. I asked the following questions: When do you feel strongest? Where are you and what are you doing when you feel strong? Below are the anonymous responses from the twenty-three men that responded to my survey questions. The survey responders had a broad range in ages. Only one responder was a teenager but the rest of the responders were above the age of eighteen.

Responder 1: "I'm physically strongest when I sleep best, which means going to sleep early and then waking up early. I'm spiritually strong only when I'm regularly in communion with the Lord. Journaling and taking the best and worst of me to Him... I usually feel strongest when I'm being obedient to the Lord and outside of my comfort zone."

Responder 2: "Serving the Lord and proclaiming His Word."

Responder 3: "I can pretty much manipulate my own emotions as long as I can realize them. I feel strongest when I'm listening to music."

Responder 4: "To be honest I never knew what strength felt like until I met you."

Responder 5: "I feel strongest when I'm connected with good people and communicating. I feel strongest when I accomplish things that I never thought I could but always knew I could if I tried my hardest. The hard part about feeling strong is feeling that way both when things are going well and when things are not going well."

Responder 6: "I feel strong when I'm deep in the woods, or after a workout, or long hike. I'm not sure when I feel spiritually strong... maybe when I take communion at church."

Responder 7: "When I wake up in the middle the night tired but can't sleep, I hug my daughter and thank God for someone who respects me. Or, when I workout and it cleans the mind out of all the junk... like cleaning the trash can on your computer."

Responder 8: "When I am in God's Word, listening to praises of Jesus, being with Godly people and praying..."

Responder 9: "I feel strongest when I'm at home in my recliner, waking up, with my first cup of coffee, getting ready to start my day praying to God."

Responder 10: "The Lord Jesus Christ is are strength."

Responder 11: "Well, that's quite the question. I'm just coming down from revival meetings we had last Wednesday through Saturday. I don't really know how to answer that. I feel strongest in the mornings, after spending some time reading the Bible or in prayer."

Responder 12: "I feel strongest in a place where I am appreciated."

Responder 13: "The joy of the Lord is my strength."

Responder 14: "I feel strongest when I am playing a song I know very well on a musical instrument. That would most likely be at home, although I have played in public as well."

Responder 15: “I feel strongest when I’m sharing the gospel either by myself, or with others.”

Responder 16: “I think I feel strongest when I am surrounded by people I love. Also, often I feel the most in control of myself in times of chaos that I can feel pretty steady when others may not be inclined to feel that same way. I also feel most comfortable and sure of myself when I get to be the person asking the questions.”

Responder 17: “I feel my strongest when I’m with my nephew and niece. They make me feel like I can conquer anything. Rather it be my mental health or physically even.”

Responder 18: "I feel weak pretty often. I am specifically aware of it, now-a-days?I feel strong in the Lord when something comes out of my mouth that I think came from Him. Sometimes/oftentimes I feel strong (perhaps in a human sense) while playing the piano.”

Responder 19: “I feel strongest when I’m weakest and I’m weakest when I feel strongest. I suppose I feel the safest if not strongest when I see evidence of God's grace and blessing. But I worry when everything goes too well. As if I’m being lulled into a false sense of security.”

Responder 20: "I feel strongest when I’m praying in the woods, and when I’m reading poetry at open mics and connecting with the people there. Good question."

Responder 21: “I’m not sure I ever think about myself being strong. The first thing that comes to mind is endurance or confidence when I think strong. I feel those things when I’m speaking or singing on stage leading in confidence because I’m usually speaking or singing the gospel. If that makes since. The endurance part of strength I feel at the end of a long hard day maybe. But I’m I don’t think I feel that in the moment usually."

Responder 22: "Man, that's tough. Two things stuck out the most. Listening to music is one. I mention it because it's a consistent source ‘manufactured’ strength. If I feel weak and need a boost I'll listen to certain types of music. Secondly, when I'm angry. Of course that includes the 'lose your cool' type too but I'm thinking more so of confronting falsehood or injustice.”

Responder 23: "I feel strongest when I’m helping other people whether it’s technology or even with learning a language.”

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First of all, I was actually blown away by the maturity, strength, and character that shone through the responses! Some patterns, that I could not help but notice, were that many responders emphasized spiritual strength. There was little mentioned of physical strength, interestingly enough. Several men mentioned music and how it has helped them either by listening, singing or playing musical instruments. Another thing that surprised me, in a great way, was the level of vulnerability from the responders. All the responders responded via text messages and I was just very impressed by the thoughtful, solid answers. My conclusion from this survey project was that men need several outlets to be reminded of their strength and the most important outlet is spiritual development and mission-mindedness.

Thank you for reading and I'm looking forward to seeing any comments that you may have below!