what are your strengths?

I hosted a recovery meeting recently and used the ice breaker topic of this quote. I kicked off the sharing by talking about one of my strengths, which is resiliency. In my life, I’ve experienced the loss of loved ones, various traumas, addiction, divorce, and career changes. Sharing this with a group of fifty women felt vulnerable and scary. Did I feel worthy of claiming that strength?

In a zoom meeting where there are usually several virtual-hands-raised, the voluntary shares were slow to start, and they stayed slow. It wasn’t until one person was wrapping up their share that a virtual hand would go up. About halfway through the meeting, one sharer revealed that her strength was stepping up to relieve the host (me!) of holding a silent sharing circle.

This experience shows that it can be tough to verbalize our strengths and sometimes even recognize them in ourselves. Other women came forward and shared how intimidating this topic was. Some shared that although it was challenging, maybe they’d like to explore it further. With every share, women verbalized some strengths, and some were revealed as the speaker talked about what they were working on or things they’d overcome in the past week.

We can usually recognize other people’s gifts, but not our own. Let’s change that! Click here for a simple worksheet on exploring your unique strengths. If you enjoy the exercise, we can chat about how to use them with intention.