Are you unknowingly giving away your power? I hate to admit it, but I can be guilty of this. I am quick to justify why I am not making progress toward a goal. Bad circumstances, lack of resources, not enough experience….oh, and my favorite…..genetics. My parents were _______ (fill in the blank), therefore, I can’t. Power lost……..
It is all too easy to give our power away to things we can’t control. When I think about you (and anyone else who is dealing with a health condition), I think how easy this would be….
Traumatic brain injury? “The person driving the car that hit me was at fault”. Although this may be true…….power lost.
Stroke? “The doctor (who didn’t give me the right blood pressure medication) is to blame, the family members (who created my bad eating habits) are to blame; the obesity (that runs in the family) is to blame; the PFO (patent foramen ovale), the stressful job, the poor working conditions….etc.
“ _______________ (insert justification) was not in my control.” Power lost.
Here is the truth…..
Bad things happen to good people. Let me repeat that. No one is exempt from hardship. Is it fair? No. But we aren’t guaranteed a “fair” life.
Accidents, auto-immune diseases, heart attacks, strokes, MS, ALS, Parkinsons disease, guillain-barre syndrome, cancer….etc. do NOT discriminate.
As hard as it is to accept…….bad things happen to good people.
With that said, there is ALWAYS an opportunity to improve your circumstances. Regardless of how “irreversible” it may seem. Don’t believe me? Just this week, I listened to my patient (diagnosed with ALS) excitedly tell me all the things she is planning to accomplish in the next week, month, and (hopefully) year. She knows she is racing against a clock that is hastily stealing her mobility. If you are unfamiliar with ALS, google it.
As much as I want to sit and ask myself “why”, I can’ help but get caught up in her optimism, positivity, and ….hope. It’s infectious. And maybe that’s it. Maybe this is the answer to my question……”why?”.
You see, it’s people like her that give people like me…… optimism, positivity, and……hope. This in turn gives me the opportunity to pay it forward. That is, to somehow put into words what I am witnessing. Through which giving YOU the freedom to find the opportunity in adversity. Instead of allowing a diagnosis to steal your power, you turn adversity into a superpower…….
Accepting our circumstances is a SUPERPOWER.
Owning what we can control is a SUPERPOWER.
Taking responsibility for our circumstances is a SUPERPOWER.
What about you? Do you feel powerful or powerless? If the latter, what is stealing your power?
It is easy to identify all the reasons why bad things happen to good people. Maybe you consider yourself one of the good ones. Someone who did everything right and still ended up with the short stick.
I can’t pretend to understand the difficult circumstances that you might be going through. But here is what I know………YOU have a superpower. Everyone has a superpower. For some it takes minutes to tap into. For others it takes months or even years. But once you find it, you CAN accomplish anything.