Strength is the 8th card in the Major Arcana.  It symbolizes inner strength and fortitude; the ability to see things through no matter how difficult it becomes.  It also represents the triumph of inner spirit and will over our more aggressive, instinctive impulses; out soul over our more animal nature if you will.  

"Negative:  You are experiencing a compulsive behavior or feeling that is not necessary.  You may be responding to a situation in a particular, defensive manner because that's how you needed to respond in the past in order to survive.  The current situation probably doesn't merit that intense, compulsive response.  Your compulsions are habit patterns or addictions that are no longer beneficial to you.
Reversed:  You are experiencing intense inner drives that compel you to act in a particular way.  You are behaving in a way that seems illogical but is actually in tune with your own biological or emotional needs.  You may be struggling for emotional survival in a situation that seems abusive or threatening to you.

Hmm, I guess I'm not as strong as I thought or maybe my strength is preventing me from learning something.  Actually the more I think about this one the more I realize something - it's not so much my strength as it is my arrogance about it.  I tend to have the attitude that if I survived something than so can anyone else.  It tends to make me less empathetic than I might tend to be and it also comes off as having a superiority complex.  The reality is that I often don't give much credence to the idea that there is anything special about me because I was able to overcome certain obstacles.  In fact I'm not planning to start doing so now.  Let's just say that I do admit to having had a few disadvantages in my life.  Once during a psychology class we were reading a book called The Shattered Self about people who had overcome amazing adversity only to experience one trauma too many which caused them to crack.  As I was reading the book I couldn't help but feel admiration for these people.  Yes, they did ultimately shatter but before that happened their ability to overcome the obstacles and trauma in their lives was awe inspiring.  In fact it was one of the class' critiques of the book - that it portrayed these people as somehow "less" for succumbing to that one trauma too many.

While reading the book I experienced a bit of deja vu.  I'm not claiming that my life has been filled with trauma but I've seen a lot of people die tragically and too young; lost everything in a fire and had some personal nightmares to work through.  I think this has caused me to affect a less than sympathetic attitude towards those who fall apart.  I sometimes view them as cry babies.  I mean really, if I can survive this stuff then anybody can.  But is that true?  I guess it's not.  However I also don't appreciate the new attitude many people have now that no one is responsible for their own actions.  I think part of the reason I can be unsympathetic is because I also refuse to blame any of my short-comings on any of this past trauma.  The reality is that sometimes I'm a bitch; sometimes I'm nasty.  This is my personality and it may have been formed by the experiences of my past but I refuse to be held hostage to it.  I prefer to believe the way Capt. James T. Kirk does - that my pain makes me who I am; that it makes me stronger.  Unfortunately that does not always make me very helpful to others who might not have similar coping skills.

I also think this card is making a point about being strong when dealing with my current situation vis a vis hubby's family.  He is under a lot of stress right now.  Sometimes I'm not always as there for him as I could be.  And because he is dealing with a lot of family responsibilities, he is not always as there for me as he could be.  It tends to make us snappish sometimes.  Strength reversed might be reminding me that we may both be strong but we are not invincible.  And being able to roar loudly doesn't mean we're being strong, just loud.  I think we both need to reconnect with out inner strength and learn how to rejuvenate ourselves so that we can be there for each other.