Beyond Strength: What It Really Means When a Woman Bends but Doesn’t Break

Beyond Strength: What It Really Means When a Woman Bends but Doesn’t Break

One of the greatest strengths of being a woman, I believe, is our ability to feel deeply. I learned this first hand as I fought my battle with breast cancer. It’s a life event where you have to allow yourself to feel. If you stifle the emotions one would likely suffocate from the weight and worry of it all. It was part of the process to accept this life changing event and to build the strength to get through it. And as women, we don’t shy away from our emotions; instead, we embrace them as a source of resilience and energy that carries us through life. Our joy, our love, our sorrow, and even our anger—they’re all part of what makes us who we are. But this openness comes with struggles, too. Feeling deeply is a double-edged sword, a strength that also leaves us exposed to the weight of our own vulnerabilities.

We are woven with empathy and compassion, yet this openness often brings us face-to-face with sorrow. We love with intensity, and when loss hits, it strikes with a force. And in those moments, others may see our tears and mistake them for weakness. But in that pain, we find resilience because we are resilient. We rise, not because it’s easy, but because our hearts—no matter how wounded—are still able to give, to feel, to grow once more. We may bend, but we do not break. Even when we feel we’re broken, we find a way to heal.

And yet, society often misunderstands the strength in our emotions. If we’re expressive and allow ourselves to feel, we’re labeled as “too emotional”, or seen as “an annoyance”, or even “unstable.” Our natural responses to life—be it sadness, joy, anger, or fear—can be dismissed as “hormones” or reduced to “emotional baggage.” How many times have we been told to “calm down” or had our feelings downplayed as irrational, or simply dismissed? There’s this perception that having feelings somehow weakens our credibility or makes us “a hassle” to deal with. And that judgment is a weight that we quietly carry.

But our emotions are not a weakness, and they’re certainly not baggage. They’re a testament to the depths we are willing to go, the courage to face our vulnerabilities head-on, and the willingness to engage with life wholeheartedly. Feeling deeply isn’t about losing control, or being weak; it’s about allowing ourselves to fully experience life’s spectrum, and in doing so, we grow stronger. We transform pain into strength, sadness into compassion, joy into hope—and we carry on.

This understanding helped inspire my current series of sculptures depicting women as trees– rooted, complex and exposed. Trees stand tall and resilient, but they carry their scars, branches bent or broken from past storms. Like trees, we grow in every direction, grounded by our experiences. We carry the scars of what we’ve been through, and those marks are proof of our strength.

These sculptures are a tribute to every woman who has faced the world with her heart wide open. Yes, we feel deeply, and yes, it can hurt. But through those feelings, we find resilience. We bend, but we do not break. And that is the beauty—and the power—of being a woman.