What strength has asked of women — and what it could become instead We learned how to be strong. Early. Often quietly. Sometimes because there was no other choice. We learned how to hold ourselves together. How to stay composed. How to keep going, even when something inside us was asking to stop. We learned to be  reliable ,  capable ,  emotionally steady . To say  “I’m fine”  in a way that didn’t invite further questions. To carry things without letting them show. Over t