WHAT BEING STRONG MEANS

My goal for our wellness challenge was strength. I kept it vague on purpose, because, when in doubt, be vague.

I did a variety of healthy things over the 65 days to get stronger, like sign up for an online strength training challenge and a half marathon.

Little did I know, my challenge would become much more about inner strength than physical.

I faced a mental toughness marathon after Eli was hospitalized with a cystic fibrosis-related lung infection for five days in early January.

Eli was at the center of this health crisis, which meant I needed to lend some of my bigger-person inner strength to my little buddy, who was scared and upset to be hospitalized.

Later, while Eli slept, I opened the valve and let my own sadness and despair flow to a member of my inner circle — namely, my husband. (Lucky him!) Sadness management is part of living with disease.

So is happiness management.

We tried our best to have fun at the hospital with Eli, at various points playing water guns with plastic saline syringes and making weird balloon people out of blue hospital gloves.

I resolved that hospital memories don’t have to be bad memories, nor does our life with disease have to be bad.

We will need to be strong and smart and even a little crafty to remain positive and keep the good times flowing, even and especially when life doesn’t go our way.

That’s what this challenge revealed to me about strength.