Personal Empowerment: Our Best Tool in Tough Times
Have you ever felt “small”? Like you just couldn’t get over the obstacle life was putting in your path? You start to think you’re useless. Worthless. You think things won’t work out and you won’t be able to do anything about it.
What does this thinking result in? You won’t make an effort to get out of the situation. You think there’s no point.
That’s how we get into a vicious cycle that’s hard to get out of. And it just makes things harder. Is there anything we can do? Yes! To change your mindset, read on and discover the benefits of empowerment!
“The question isn’t who is going to let me, it’s who is going to stop me.”
-Ayn Rand-
What Is Personal Empowerment?
When we get into the spiral of learned helplessness, our situation just gets worse and worse. Feeling like we have no power to change things starts to undermine our physical and mental health.
Yes, it can be very difficult to overcome life’s obstacles. Difficult, yes, but not impossible.
If someone told us life would be all sunshine and roses because we have good intentions, they lied. But the little devil on our shoulder telling us everything will go wrong isn’t right either.
Happiness actually tends to be a product of balance. It’s a balance we rarely find if we don’t use the strength inside and outside us. It’s a matter of willpower… but also one of ability and intelligence.
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
-Alice Walker-
What are we talking about? That things on their own usually don’t change. It’s very important for us to see ourselves as valuable human beings.
This way we can reorient the strength we talked about and get balance. That’s it, but also not forgetting there are a lot of things that go beyond our willpower. This is important, because if we try to control everything we’ll wear ourselves out.
Specifically, empowerment means you see yourself as capable of making decisions and handling the various situations that might come.
In this process, it’s fundamental that you see how discomfort doesn’t just come from external things. No, it’s also an internal process that you can control and manage.
How Can We Nurture Personal Empowerment?
To get a person to see themselves that way, they must have good self-esteem. Getting a positive self-image will mean we trust our abilities more. And we’ll trust our power to change anything we don’t like.
That said, our self-esteem has to line up with reality. We’re not doing ourselves any favors if we create expectations that are too high for us. That’s how we’ll wear ourselves out.
Thus it’s extremely important for us to know ourselves well and be aware of our strengths and weaknesses. To get ourselves in that position and disposition, we have to put ourselves to the test.
“I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of ‘Wow, I’m not really sure I can do this,’ and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough.”
-Marissa Mayer-
If we don’t take risks, it’ll be hard for us to move forward. Facing reality will help us see how our problems are rarely as bad as we thought. And that we have the skills we need to overcome the obstacles. If we try and fail, we can see what we did wrong and modify it to get a better outcome next time.
What does Empowerment Look Like?
Lastly, let’s look at the characteristics we may see in an empowered person. They…
- Inform themselves and try to learn about topics that interest them.
- Try to train themselves and gain new skills.
- Are responsible.
- Know and accept themselves.
- Have healthy self-esteem and self-confidence.
- Are aware of how important it is to take care of yourself.
- Know what their social relationships are like, and take care of the ones that are worth it. But they never get in their own way, and they look for balanced relationships with no toxic emotional dependence.
- Are aware of the importance of setting boundaries in their interpersonal relationships.
- Are able to plan their time, establishing objectives, needs, and priorities.
- Know how to make decisions.
- Try to solve conflicts in a way that works out best for everyone.
- Communicate by using their social skills and exercising their assertiveness. And they do so always keeping in mind other people’s rights as well as their own.
Specifically, through empowerment, we will be better able to live in harmony with ourselves and others. O ur relationships will gain in quality. Let’s find the power within!
Images courtesy of Michael Rosner Hyman, Austin Schmid and Jerry Kiesewetter.
