Tallawah.

If you follow me on my personal blog Instagram page, @tallawahting, you have probably heard me use the term, “Tallawah”, quite a bit. What is this strange word and how do you pronounce it? Tallawah is a Jamaican Patois word that means to be strong, fearless, strong-willed, and not to be underestimated. It is pronounced exactly as it is spelled: /Talla-wa/. This word means a lot to me for many reasons. One, it connects my culture to a personal identifier. Quiet and more reserved people, whether an introvert or an ambivert, are often assumed to be weaker, less driven, and cautious. We’re not exactly the first to be called strong, strong-willed, or fearless. I know this because these are stereotypes that I’ve always had to work against. One of the most important lessons that I have learned from the women in my family, however, is that strength comes in different forms. One’s strength is not determined by their physical ability nor is it always determined by how loud one’s voice is among others. Certainly, someone can be viewed as strong due to their physical strength or their confidence in voicing their opinion, but strength doesn’t and shouldn’t stop there. Strength can be found in the quietness of the individual who has experienced much but continues to push forward, in whatever way that looks like for that person. Strength can be seen in the more quiet girl who has big dreams of changing the world and works meticulously to chase those dreams. No one ever sees her, how hard she works, or how brilliant her dreams are. But she continues to work at them, believing in them, and advocating for herself. She’s strong. Strength is seen in the individual who loses a loved one. She feels lost and wonders what life will look like after such a loss. She grieves in her own way but remembers that from death always comes life. She remembers that everyday that she is alive is a testament to how important her walking in her purpose is. She keeps going. At her core, she is strong. There are so many definitions of strength. Too many to count. There are countless stories of women and men whose strength doesn’t fit the mold of what society has defined as strength. I think that one of the most powerful forms of strength is not that which is overly evident. It’s not that which is easily identifiable. One of the most powerful forms of strength is that of silent strength, a strength that might be obscured under the cloak of a quiet persona but nonetheless, it loves in the midst of hardship, it pushes forward in the face of obstacles, it inspires in the midst of uncertainty, and it heals in the midst of chaos. My strength may be a silent strength, but it is powerful. How do you define your own strength?