It’s good to feel strong, and that’s perhaps even more true during periods of unrest and change.

The word “strong” often evokes concepts like steel beams and rippling pectorals, but it can also refer to less visible (but still potent) flavors of resiliency or capability: strong morals, strong reasoning skills, strong relationships.

I work out, eat as healthily as feasible, and try to maintain a decent psychological equilibrium because I think it’s important to aim for sturdiness, flexibility, and durability.

Truly practical strength, though, is seldom (perhaps never) entirely self-contained. A strong individual (by whatever definition we might use) in a tumultuous, disordered environment will be less strong and more prone to all manners of turmoil because of the inherent fragility of their context.

We are stronger individually when we’re stronger collectively. And while we may sometimes feel tempted to trip others to feel taller—playing status games instead of addressing real, tangible issues—with rare exceptions, we feel and do better when we opt to elevate everyone, not just a fortunate few.

More strength tends to breed more strength, and such growth both broadens and deepens the level of stability we all enjoy.

It’s important that we work to feel strong, internally, even as we look outward for other people who might need a hand with something. Investing in our health, our self-esteem, our capacity—all vital.

But figuring out how we might sustainably give and take, assist and be assisted, plant seeds and cultivate more resilient communities and contexts is just as important, and just as worthy of our time and energy.

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