Oh, boy, is it a pain to be known as the "strong one." I think this might be a bit of a curse that's familiar to most oldest children in large families. It's just kind of an assumption that goes with the territory.
As a teenager and a young woman, I was pretty proud of this. With the built-in confidence of youth, I accomplished things that make me quake when I remember them. Want to have a summer job in a totally unfamiliar city and live alone for the first time ever and find your way to work in a huge city when you don't have a car? No problem. Need to fly to Europe even though you've actually never left the eastern half of the U.S. and you're alone and you have no idea what you're doing? Sounds like an adventure.
Strength comes in many different forms, of course. The ability to problem-solve, to remain calm in a crisis, and even to say "no" when you have just reached the end of your rope - that's probably a kind of strength that many yearn for. I'm still working on it.
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