Strength

Was I stronger before I met people?

"If you want to be strong learn to enjoy being alone." - @thegoodquote.co

Before I engaged myself with people, I didn't mind being alone. I didn't mind shopping alone, I didn't mind eating alone. I didn't mind traveling alone nor did I mind watching movies alone. This sounds like the ultimate loner life but that was the life I was living back in my secondary school days. My friends would beg to differ and I would sound like I'm self-victimizing myself, but honestly, I didn't mind. It was somehow therapeutic to be alone. But now that I have very important people in my life and a loved one I never want to lose, has being dependent on them made me a weaker person?

Is being independent the only justification of how strong a person is? Or can a person also be strong whilst being dependent on people? Is a person strong just because she is able to speak for herself? Or can a person also be strong when she needs a voice to speak for her?

How do I tell myself that I've become a stronger person as compared to the 15-year-old me? How do I tell myself that 'It's okay to fall' when all I want is to hold myself together? How do I break out of this never-ending loop of doubt I have in myself? Where do I start answering myself?