Feed your inner strength! Discover Karen P.
Special K recently commissioned global research to better understand how women define inner strength.
The research involved 6,000 women between the ages of 21 and 55, from 6 countries: France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, the United States and Australia.
According to the findings of the Special K survey, inner strength is a predominantly female prerogative and is characterized by its multidimensional being and its dynamism, it helps women to face everyday life and overcome daily challenges.
1. What does your inner strength consist of? What meaning do you attribute to it?
There are two aspects of my life in which I experience what I call inner strength: the private sphere and sport. I am sure that inner strength needs to be trained and that the progress made in one area also affects the ability to deal with situations related to the other.
Inner strength for me is the ability to adapt to situations that I don't expect and that challenge my balance. These are those unforeseen events that will surely lead to change and must be addressed when they happen. To do this it takes a lot of strength, a strength that others cannot give me, but that I go to look for within myself.
Then there is the inner strength linked to sport, that is really nice to experience, it is she who takes me to the top of the mountains or to the goals of my races. I remember when, during my New York marathon, at the 35th km, I had very tired legs and little energy and I managed to run another 7 km until arriving in Central Park.
How do you think I got to the end if not with my head and inner strength? It is a great inner strength that is needed.
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2. How did you build your inner strength and how does this come out in your daily life?
I am a strong woman and I believe that this strength was partly transmitted to me by my parents who, from an early age, taught me to be independent and face everything without ever running away.
Their strength was fundamental in many moments of life where being strong was the only solution they had. They chose not to give up, thus showing me what matters in life.
As I said, the inner strength is trained and you need to have stimuli to do it. I call "mental strength" that motivation that makes me run even after work or a bad day, the one that encourages me not to give up when I am in the middle of a climb on skis, by bike or on foot and in the throes of tired I still manage to get to the top.
In my daily life I practice a lot of sport and here I experience my inner strength which, with ever new goals, is consolidated day after day.
The inner strength that I use in sport is also transferred to my daily life, lived between work and home. Sport for me is very similar to life, to reach a goal you have to commit because nothing is due. You have to believe in yourself and never give up.
Even in my private life I never take my eyes off the finish line, because with tenacity and without haste, dreams come true. We need to be aware of the failures that there will certainly be, but they will serve to make us stronger and to overcome new goals. To do all this you need inner strength, the same that allows you to face everyday life with a smile and an edge.
According to what emerged from the Special K survey, inner strength for women is just as important as happiness. Aesthetic beauty, on the other hand, seems to lose value. This is demonstrated by the significant gap between 92% of women who consider inner strength important and 51% who, on the other hand, consider external beauty important.
3. What do you think about it? Do you believe that inner strength is as important as happiness?
I personally believe that a strong woman is also beautiful and happy. I believe that inner strength is one of the ways to happiness: with inner strength you have the ability to face anything and the satisfaction of having succeeded makes you happy.
The strong woman has a story to tell made up of falls and rebirths that have allowed her to move forward, smile and be happy.
In my life as a sportswoman, inner strength often led me to resist, to grit my teeth and eventually to conquer happiness.
Another important finding is that 77% of the women interviewed are aware that they have an inner strength, but at the same time these same women realize that they are unable to transform this strength into action. And again, one in two women believes that she does not give voice to her inner strength as she would like.
4. What is your experience? What awareness do you have of your inner strength and what role does this play in your life? What lever do you use to release your inner strength?
I have always thought of being a strong person and this awareness was born from the personal results that I have obtained and continue to obtain in life as in sport.
Inner strength in my life plays a fundamental role: it is that engine that, in front of an obstacle or a crossroads, activates everything necessary to move forward.
I am convinced that the only way to transform inner strength into action is to have goals and determination. I strongly believe in the phrase "you never know how strong you are as long as being strong is the only choice you have".
There are phases in sport and in life where you understand that you have to do something, that you cannot be at the mercy of what is happening; so you take the situation in hand and don't give up, and that's how you really understand how much your strength is.
In sports, when you find yourself having to push your limits and you manage to do it, you understand that a good dose of inner strength was the reason why you got what you wanted. My experience in the sports field shows me that if you want ... you can, you don't need to be a professional to run the New York Marathon or to get to the top of a very high peak, you just need to want to, train and concentrate your strength to reach the goal .
Another interesting point within Special K's research concerns food, which plays a fundamental role in fueling the strength of women.
For 63% of the women interviewed, food is an important element that gives strength to women, for 64% breakfast in particular is able to provide all the mental and physical strength to better face the day and for 66% a healthy and nutritious nutrition helps you feel better.
5. What role does food - and breakfast - play for you in fueling your mental and physical strength every day?
Food plays a very important role for me, especially because I believe we are what we eat.
In sport, it is very important to have healthy eating habits. After a few years of sport, I know my body and mind well and I know what they need to give their best.
Breakfast is for me the most important meal of the day, the one on which a large part of the success of my physical activity and my goals related to work and personal life depend.
I am a woman and I know how much strength we must have to face everything we do, even more so when hours of sport and preparation are added to all this.
Two things are never lacking in my breakfast: cereals and dried fruit. The strength of this mix of ingredients is the winning choice for me, both in my daily sports performance and in facing the challenges of my day!
Discover the answers to the survey by Giorgia Surina e Titty & Flavia!
