The people you deem emotionally strong, comforting presences, are that way because they spend time within cultivating these parts of themselves. It takes a lot of work, and it’s not a group effort. It’s something that they must do for themselves.
You see, it is not my mission to empower anybody. I cannot help but recognize that the word itself entails that power is being 'given' instead of revealed. I cannot give something that is already the very basis of who you -- who we -- are.
Ten, or maybe even five years ago, I would have reacted very differently. I would have been upset, angry, filled with indignity, and hurt. I might have gone to soothe myself by buying some baked goods and eating the whole lot of them. See, I was a chubby child, and my extended family made fun ...