You’re right. “Still standing” is something to truly recognize and honor in oneself. In fact, perhaps that is one of the most core commonly shared fears by all of us? The fear that someday, darkness will fall upon us, and we will not be able to withstand life’s hardships/suffering. I have carried such a fear. And I have to say, that it is from my vulnerable place as “mother” (yin?) that I have found a strength to stand (yang) when in any other day/condition, I most definitely believe I would have succumbed to the fall. Most definitely battered and scarred, I now look at myself in the mirror now and say “Kim – you ARE still standing. And that is truly something. I’m proud of you.”
That concept reminds me of a story I read about a tribe in Africa. Of course I forget which one. But this tribe believed that scars were beautiful. That they showed what you overcame and survived. They showed that you were “still standing.” And that “still standing” – was indeed something to celebrate.