Building Inner Strength Like a Muscle

Strength isn't just physical—it's something that grows inside you with every challenge you face. Today, we're diving deep into how developing your inner strength is the secret to building unshakable confidence in all areas of your life.

Have you ever noticed that the people who seem most confident have often faced the greatest challenges? That's no coincidence. Like a muscle that grows stronger through resistance training, our inner fortitude develops when we confront difficulties rather than avoid them. Whether it's going through a divorce, learning from a small kitchen accident, or facing any of life's unexpected tests, each experience builds the resilience that transforms into authentic confidence.

The journey follows a powerful four-step process: challenges that push us out of comfort, self-doubt that reveals where we need to grow, self-realization that shows us the path forward, and finally, growth that creates lasting confidence. Along this path, three emotional tools become essential: embracing failure as a teacher, setting boundaries that protect your energy, and practicing positive self-talk that rewires your mindset. Most importantly, we examine how fears—often rooted in past experiences—can block our progress unless we focus on truly meaningful outcomes.

This episode offers practical insights for anyone looking to strengthen their inner resilience, overcome self-doubt, and build the kind of confidence that withstands life's biggest tests. Share your own story of discovering inner strength with me on social media or Substack—I'd love to hear how you're growing stronger, one challenge at a time. Subscribe now and join our journey to success!

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Inner Strength
• 3:05 How Inner Strength Develops
• 6:03 Four Steps to Building Confidence
• 10:15 Embracing Emotions That Build Strength
• 16:07 Overcoming Fears and Valuing Outcomes
• 20:35 Key Takeaways and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Did you know that inner strength can be developed like a muscle, and it's a key? It's a key to unlocking unshakable confidence, guys, all right, just like any muscle, anyway, you need to be patient and understand that creating something that can completely transform your life is a long-term goal. Okay, can completely transform your life is a long-term goal, okay, and this is true for your biceps, your heart's persistence and for so many examples as well, and, of course, for your inner strength as well, okay, so how can we cultivate inner strength to boost our self-confidence and face life's challenges, guys? We don't know yet, but that's what we're going to discuss today. Hi, guys, my name is Fabio from Journey to Success, and welcome. Today, we're going to learn how to develop and grow your inner strength, which is crucial for boosting your self-confidence. But before to go forward, as always, please subscribe, okay. So I know this is the right direction to lead you guys, to drive you, to guide you towards your journey to success, and let's get started right.

Speaker 1: 1:18

As always, so many people struggle with self-doubt and insecurity. We know that which can hold them back from achieving their goals and living their best lives. All right, we have discussed already many topics related to overcoming self-doubt and insecurity. But we have not explored yet the concept of inner strength. So how does inner strength develop? First of all, it is born from impactful emotional challenges. The bigger the challenge, the stronger you become. For example, I have a friend who is going through a divorce right now, dealing with a house, children, the whole package basically, despite everything, when she feels tired, she tries her best to stay positive for herself and her kids okay. When she feels sad, she does her best to find happiness. So she always tries her best to be up and I'm sure that during moments when she thinks she can't go on, she also realizes she's stronger than she ever thought. See, guys, human beings are fascinating. We are fascinating because we often believe that we cannot tolerate certain emotions or situation when unfortunate events happen to us. Okay, but at the end, in the end of the story, we have only two choices here Give up, which leads to stagnation, hoping that something will change for the better. You know, sitting on the couch, sleeping all day and self-destructing your life seem like the solution to all your problems, basically, or move on. So the other path is becoming stronger to improve our lives and, of course, giving up and slowing down at first is part of the process for developing your future resilience when you finally decide to change your life for the better, but as long as you don't remain in self-destruction forever. So that's very important. But, as I mentioned before, we're beautiful molecules, so sooner or later, we all want to overcome that impulse to give up. All right, phasing life like beer on steroids. All of this, my friends, is what I call inner strength, by the way. So this is how inner strength is born. Now, how do we reach a point where inner strength boosts self-confidence?

Speaker 1: 4:12

In my opinion, this process is pretty automatic and can be divided into four steps Challenges, self-doubt, self-realization and growth. Let me share another simple example to make this clearer. When I was on vacation when we were on vacation with my fiancé, we were in Italy my sister-in-law she was in our house and she called us and said that she burned her hand because she didn't know that the handle of the pen right was not insulated. So she basically picked it up directly with her hands without any protection. Okay, evidently my mother-in-law has pens with insulated handles, okay, so she had a different experience. So, in this situation, we see the challenges you know, know. So, before we talk about this, four steps. The steps are challenges, self-doubt, self-realization and growth. So in this case, we have the challenges, the strangles, the obstacles. So this is the first key. So my sister-in-law was a desperate and in pain, okay, which made her feel emotions like self-doubt, of course. The second key Self-doubt, insecurity, lack of confidence. However, she then experienced self-realization okay, the third key. So she realized that from that moment on, she needed to use a cloth to handle the pen. Okay, and lastly, finally, we have growth and empowerment the fourth key. So from that day forward, she always used a cloth to lift the pen, which boosted her self-confidence in the kitchen. So this is a straightforward but fundamental example. It shows a pattern that can be applied to many aspects of our lives, guys. So the bigger the strangle, the greater, the bigger the potential for overcoming it and the greater self-confidence can become okay.

Speaker 1: 6:19

Let's break down this experience for my sister-in-law. Still, even if she didn't realize it, she likely experienced these three forms of emotions Embracing failure, setting boundaries and positive self-talk. These three emotions are fundamental to building inner strength and her situation is, of course, there's just one example among billions of billions of similar situations, large or small, right, and that can happen to us every day in our life. So, first, emotion embracing failure. So when she strangled and reached out to us, she was literally embracing failure in that moment. This is the most important part of the process, because it's when you realize that you need to learn something to move forward. Okay, the only way to learn is by acknowledging that you are failing at something. So this is step one, checked number two uh.

Speaker 1: 7:22

Second, emotion setting boundaries. So, considering the example of my sister-in-law's and you know before also the example of my friend's experience with divorce, it's crucial to recognize the impact of embracing failure. Okay, only a few know that failure is part of the learning process. A good percentage realize later that they learned because they failed, while another group thinks that learning and failure are not two different sides of the same coin. However, regardless of the relationship between failure and the people, between failure and you guys, the truth is that everyone recognizes something during their failures and they notice a breaking point, as if something has cracked. Okay, so this feeling can be scary. However, this apparent break is just a step before your personal growth. Yes, challenge can break our protective shell, even if it's temporary, but we need to rebuild that shell. How do we do that by setting boundaries.

Speaker 1: 8:40

So all of this introduction for you know, for this second emotion, setting boundaries. Here I'm going to give you the same example. So, during her divorce, my friend had to set boundaries with her ex-partner. And of course it is, for any divorce, right, and it is absolutely normal. When you need to grow, you must bring order to your life and to do that, boundaries are crucial. Guys are important. The example of my sister-in-law. So my sister-in-law called us and expressed her feelings by saying guys, I didn't know, the pan was insulated. You could say to me Now we're not discussing if the complaint was right or wrong, all right, what matters is that during the process of developing inner strength, it's normal for the brain to try to rebuild that protective shell, and part of that involves setting boundaries, of course, something that her brain was also doing with me and her sister.

Speaker 1: 9:54

To facilitate the next step, the next step is positive self-talk. So, third emotion, positive self-talk. So, third emotion, positive self-talk. So what? It is? Well, after embracing failure first emotion and after establishing boundaries second emotion the next step is to affirm okay, okay, come on, I can do this, I can do it.

Speaker 1: 10:22

And this applies to what we're talking about cooking, dealing with a divorce, launching a podcast, pursuing success, any kind of goal. You know, we all at the end of the story, when we go through about something, we feel that energy, right, we say, well, we can do it, I can do it, I'm good, I finally I'm going to achieve it, I'm going to be good, and if we fail again, that's okay. We always start the process over and over until we reach our goals, our dreams, our life's purpose. Okay, it's not that beautiful, it is so beautiful, are we not that strong? We are so strong. That's the reason why I always, always, like to talk about this kind of topics, right, one is about resilience and, in this case, inner strength and success.

Speaker 1: 11:27

Failure, that is part of success, because it's part of us, and you really should realize how much strong you are. So, anyway, to develop true confidence and build inner strength, we often need to confront the usual thing at the end of the story, right, always, around the corner, always there are fears. Fears fear of cooking, fear of launching a podcast, fear of breaking up, fear of divorce, fear of showing someone your feelings, fear of everything, basically. So the current fears we have often arise from past experiences, first of all, and these fears can arise from patterns we observe in our families, in our friends, or even from genes that influence us in certain ways. It's not science fiction, it's something that I don't remember where I read it, maybe I watched something but it has been scientifically proven that the emotions of our progenitors are part of our genes. I think it was an episode of Lewis Hose, I think, who was a guest. Yes, I guess he was a guest.

Speaker 1: 14:01

And anyway, these fears are part of us, guys, whether we know the source or not, whether we like it or not. They're part of us. They attempt to influence our present by warning us about the future and lastly, unfortunately, they interfere with our inner strength, and it's a disaster. It's not good, Because the more we nourish these fears, the more they prevent us from reaching our goals. Okay, fears, guys, are like like seeds in a vast garden. Okay, we care for them, we water them, but the result is not a beautiful flower or a bunch of lovely roses. It doesn't work like that. Instead, we often end up with thorny weeds that block our growth and inner strength.

Speaker 1: 14:52

So how to overcome in this case and make sure that our inner strength grows stronger and faster than ever? Two fundamental points. First of all, you need to focus. You know, overcoming your fears and developing your inner strength requires focus, guys, the same focus you have when committing to a diet or studying for an exam. Focus is crucial, first of all. The second point is to value the outcome.

Speaker 1: 15:21

Let me give you another example, still involving my sister-in-law. I think I'm going to make her listen to this episode. So what is the example? Well, I hope she will join us for this Halloween experience in Amsterdam. So there is this Halloween experience in Amsterdam, and I love it, which is not that scary. It's not that scary, I wouldn't say not at all, but I don't know from zero up. Then it's a scary tree, honestly, maybe less tree. It's beautiful. It's called the Amsterdam Dungeon. I don't know if you know it. Three, it's beautiful. It's called the Amsterdam Dungeon. I don't know if you know it. You can look it up. It's absolutely wonderful. I love it, even if they do the same things every year, honestly. However, this year there is a new scene with Jack the Reaper, so I really want to go, but anyway, let's stay on the topic.

Speaker 1: 16:21

Sorry, the point is she doesn't want to come with us. So, regardless of what I say about the fact that it is not a horrific experience and everything. Okay, she doesn't want to come. The reason is evidently that she had an experience where an actor scared her while she was walking near the entrance scared her while she was walking near the entrance. See, here you can already see how our fears are connected, mainly originating from past experiences. First of all, but especially in this case, she knows that. So my sister-in-law knows that overcoming this fear is not going to add much value to her life. Okay, you know when I say to you the second point is to value the outcome. Consciently or subconsciously, we always try to value the outcome. All right, how much the outcome can give to us, and so what? I will say, yeah, that she knows that overcoming this fear is not going to add much value to her life. For sure, and, yes, she might have a nice time with us. But that positive experience is not enough to motivate her to face her fear. Okay, so she's comfortable with her decision and that's fine. I mean, I'm still trying to convince her because I'm stubborn.

Speaker 1: 17:57

But sticking to our topic, this reaction is normal. Why is it normal? Because overcoming fears, to reinforce your inner strength, requires a lot of energy a lot. So if your purpose is not strong enough and you prefer to save that energy for overcoming more significant fears or pursuing meaningful goals, that's perfectly okay, that's fine, and you shouldn't feel guilty about it. All right, and you shouldn't force this feeling. However, suppose your purpose is something worth achieving. Ah, that's the point. What if the purpose is something worth achieving, something meaningful in your life? In that case, remember to be focused and go forward, because evidently it's something important for you. It's not, like you know, an horror experience. And, uh, I also recommend you revisit this episode, listen to it a couple of times to study more valid points the moment you try to face your fears, to listen at my episode or episodes like mine. Okay, Now let's break down what we talk about today, as always.

Speaker 1: 19:31

First, we discussed what inner strength is. Okay, it's a muscle. It's like a muscle. You grow it by facing challenges and it's key to building confidence. Okay, patience and consistency are essential. Important because it's a long-term process, guys, just like training your body. Okay, then we explore how inner strength develops. So it's born from emotional challenges. The bigger the challenge, the stronger you become. I share examples such as, you know, my friend going through divorce and my sister-in-law learning from a small but meaningful experience in the kitchen. This showed that even everyday struggles teach us resilience and self-confidence. Okay, next, we broke down the process into four steps. First, we have challenges. This is where it all starts. Life will test you with struggles, obstacles, everything, unexpected situations. Challenges push you out of your comfort zone and show you what you are truly capable of. The bigger the challenge, the more potential there is to grow.

Speaker 1: 20:49

Self-doubt Number two when facing challenges, it's natural to feel fear, guys. It's natural to feel insecurity, uncertainty. These moments are important because they reveal areas where you need to strengthen yourself. So feeling doubt is not weakness, it's sign. It's a sign that growth is happening. Number three self-realization. After facing a challenge and experiencing doubt, you start seeing lessons and solutions. So you recognize what you need to change, what boundaries to set and how to improve overall. And this is the turning point where strangles begins to become empowerment. And then we have the grow. So, finally, you take action based on what you learn. You implement challenges with confidence and notice that each challenge makes you stronger. Guys, grow as an assistant. Remember that it's the result of consistently applying lessons from every strangle.

Speaker 1: 21:53

Okay, after that, we talked about three key tools to develop inner strength actively, guys. First, embracing failures. Okay, more than the key tools, there are emotions. These are emotions that you automatically must face during this process to boost your inner strength. So the first one is embracing failure. So accept that mistakes are part of the journey and each failure is a lesson that teaches you how to do better next time. Without failure, guys, real growth cannot happen okay.

Speaker 1: 22:31

Number two setting boundaries. So protect your energy and create structure in your life. Okay. Boundaries, guys. Help you focus on what matters, avoid unnecessary stress and, especially, maintain mental and emotional strength while facing challenges. And then the third one, the third motion is the positive self-talk. So what you tell yourself shapes your confidence. So affirm your abilities, remind yourself of progress and celebrate small wins Okay, that's very important. Same things like I can do this, this, or I'm growing stronger. Rewire your mindset and, of course, boost and reinforce your inner strength.

Speaker 1: 23:19

Finally, lastly, we covered fears. They often come from past experiences or patterns in our families, friends, you know genes, evidently, and fears can block growth. But with focus and valuing meaningful outcomes, we can overcome them and strengthen our inner resilience. Okay, so the full story about how to build and improve your inner strength. It's pretty clear Face challenges, learn from failure, set boundaries and use positive self-talk. So focus on what truly matters and your inner strength and confidence, trust me, will grow.

Speaker 1: 24:04

Okay, now I want to hear from you how do you face challenges in your life, guys? What is one moment where you discover your own inner strength and grow more confident? Send me a message on below, as always, share your story or connect with me on sub stack. I would love to know. I would love, I would love to know. Sorry, I would love, love to know. So, if you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to subscribe, of course, so you never miss an update and, even more importantly, share this episode with a friend who might need a reminder that they are stronger than they think. Thank you so much for being here on Journey to Success. Remember, together we are building inner strength and confidence, one challenge at a time. I'll see you in the next episode. Cheers, guys.