25 Rising Strong Quotes To Inspire you To Get Back Up

Think of a time where you felt down-and-out. When you were courageous and showed up as your authentic self, but fell down hard. These 25 Rising Strong quotes from Brené Brown will help inspire you to battle the complex emotions you face during setbacks so that you can rise stronger.

What Are These Rising Strong Quotes About?

Rising Strong is a book by Brené Brown, whose work on courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy is nothing short of legendary. This book serves as an outline for the rising strong process.

Essentially, to rise strong, you need to engage in a three stage process:

  1. The reckoning: this is where you have an emotional encounter as a result of a setback. But rather than running from your emotions, you get curious about them.
  2. The rumble: in this phase, it is time to get down and dirty with those emotions. This is where you find out what you are making up and what you can learn from this setback.
  3. The revolution: this is the final phase where you take what you learned and apply it to help you live a more wholehearted life moving forward.

Overcoming setbacks and finding growth opportunities in challenges is something that we write about often at Joyful Through It All. We believe this is one of the keys to living the life you want to live, full of big goals and dream chasing.

Check out our Rising Strong summary for a more detailed overview of the Rising Strong process.

As is the case with all of Brené Brown’s work, this book is filled with rising strong quotes that will help you along the path to the revolution. Let’s get into these 25 Rising Strong quotes now!

Rising Strong Quotes About Owning Your Story

When we face struggles or setbacks, it is natural to want to run from the emotions we feel. Negative emotions are uncomfortable, so we don’t always want to share them.

However, these Rising Strong quotes will remind you of the importance of owning your story – the good and the bad. Integrating the struggles you face into who you are rather running from them puts you in the driver’s seat.

#1. “When we deny our stories, they define us. When we own our stories, we get to write the ending.”

#2.“Our job is not to deny the story, but to defy the ending – to rise strong, recognize our story, and rumble with the truth until we get to a place where we think, yes. This is what happened. This is my truth. And I will choose how this story ends.”

#3. “You either walk into your story and own your truth, or you live outside of your story, hustling for worthiness.”

#4. “Rising strong requires getting curious about our experience. This means having the willingness to open a line of inquiry into what’s going on and why.”

#5. “We choose owning our stories of struggle, over hiding, over hustling, over pretending.”

#6. “We are the authors of our lives. We write our own daring endings.”

Quotes About Courage and Vulnerability

In Rising Strong, Brené Brown explains the importance of embracing vulnerability while rising strong. She explains that we need to be vulnerable and take risks, even though there is always a chance we will fall.

These Rising Strong quotes will remind you to never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.

#7. “Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.”

#8. “People who wade into discomfort and vulnerability and tell the truth about their stories are the real badasses.”

#9. “We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both.”

#10. “Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over outcome.”

#11. “We need more people who are willing to demonstrate what it looks like to risk and endure failure, disappointment, and regret.”

#12. “The truth is that falling hurts. The dare is to keep being brave and feel your way back up.”

Rising Strong Quotes About Emotions

In Rising Strong, Brené Brown highlights the importance of wrestling with emotions that arise from setbacks. While numbing or avoiding negative emotions feels natural, these Rising Strong quotes will challenge you to make all emotions part of your story so that you can rise strong.

#13. “Hurt doesn’t go away simply because we don’t acknowledge it.”

#14. “There are too many people today who instead of feeling hurt are acting out their hurt; instead of acknowledging pain, they’re inflicting pain on others.”

#15. “No matter what we use, we can’t selectively numb emotions – when we numb the dark, we also numb the light.”

#16. “There is so much wisdom in our bodies. We just need to learn how to listen and trust what we’re hearing.”

#17. “Pretending not to be hurt is choosing to become imprisoned by the dark emotion we have experienced.”

#18. “When we decide to own our stories and live our truth, we bring our light to the darkness.”

#19. “The need to make up a story, especially when we are hurt, is part of our most primitive survival wiring.”

#20. “Meaning making is in our biology, and our default is often to come up with a story that makes sense, feels familiar, and offers us insight into how best to self-protect.”

#21. “Disappointment is unmet expectations, and the more significant the expectations, the more significant the disappointment.”

#22. “Of all the things trauma takes away from us, the worst is our willingness, or even our ability, to be vulnerable. There’s a reclaiming that has to happen.”

Quotes About Rising Strong

After you experience a setback and wrestle with your emotions, you will emerge a stronger person that is ready to take on new challenges. Using a growth mindset, you will be able to see new challenges and obstacles as opportunities for growth.

These Rising Strong quotes will encourage you to finish the battle and leave the arena stronger.

#23. “We can’t get to our brave new ending if we start from an inauthentic place.”

#24. “Choosing to live and love with our whole hearts is an act of defiance.”

#25. “The rising strong process can lead to deep tumultuous, groundbreaking, no-turning back transformation.”

What’s Next?

Next time you face a struggle or a setback, remember these Rising Strong quotes. Remember the process of rising strong.

Rather than running from your emotions, get curious about them. Dig into the stories that you are making up about your experiences, and sort fiction from fact. How can you rise strong to grow into a stronger version of yourself?

Looking for more inspirational Brené Brown quotes? Check out our list of 50 Brené Brown quotes about gratitude for more motivation to embrace yourself and the struggles you face.

Don’t forget to share this post with your friends and family on social media! If you know someone who is working through a setback, this post could be just what they need!


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