Empowerment......that in itself is a powerful word. It can mean many things to different people. It is important to believe strongly in however you define the word AND how it applies to you.
According to Merriam-Websters Dictionary, empowerment is defined as:
1) to give official authority or legal power to
2) enable
3) to promote the self-actualization or influence of
So.....what empowers me?
Helping others empowers me. To be able to give back in ANY way to another living thing is empowering to me. I know that for me to be where I am today, others worked hard to empower me. So, my dream is to then create or continue the chain reaction and empower others. I hope and pray the chain reaction keeps going (almost like a domino effect) and hopefully throughout many lifetimes, long after I'm dead and gone, many, many lives can be changed for the better.
You know what else empowers me.......is doing and achieving things that seemed like a dream or fantasy to me at one point in my life. For example, I ran the New York City marathon. I NEVER in a million years would have thought that I could do this. I had never really ran before until 6 months before the actual day. In my head, there was NO WAY that my body was going to be dragged 26.2 miles around New York. But you know what, IT DID! Now, it wasn't plain sailing by any stretch of the imagination! There were moments throughout my entire run that I wanted to stop and sit on the side of the road. I even contemplated jumping off th 59th Street bridge (approx. halfway through the 26 miles). I wasn't sure that I could do it. Something deep inside me, willed me to just take one more step, and then another......and then another before I was back on track.
I still can't believe I did it. But after I finished it, I told myself that I could do anything that I put my mind to......ANYTHING!
I think half the battle of being empowered is actually BELIEVING that you can achieve what you want to achieve. It is probably the hardest part of the battle. But once you overcome this hurdle, the world is truly your oyster.
My wish is that everyone can be empowered to do and achieve the things they want to.
And as Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase."
Be EMPOWERED to be all that you dreamed.......and more!
