Many young girls dream of becoming powerful, beautiful and accomplished. So we follow directions, try hard on our tests, and try to be more like the women that we look up to. However we are never taught that we each have our own unique and individual power that is far more potent than anything or anyone we can assimilate ourselves to be like, and more specifically, what our own super power is. To make matters more complex, our superpowers change and evolve over time so what may have been a small flame of power within us when we were young, can turn to a bright burning torch if we give it enough guidance.
One such power that is as mythical as it is real, is physical beauty. So many of the idols we look up to are amazing women and yet many women in power still have a certain ‘look’ to them. They are actors and models, which gives us the message that if we are considered technically beautiful, then we can acquire more natural power. I always wanted to make a big impact on the world, I felt strongly about helping my family and friends stay fit and healthy, took an interest in environmental preservation and international affairs, and learned Latin, French, and Mandarin Chinese. However, when the opportunity was presented to me to live in Hollywood and make a career out of ‘looks’, I was encouraged by the societal appeal and the mirage that it would give me more power over my life than I already had.
I believe that everyone has their own version of beauty, something that makes them unique and special to look at and be around. And while standing somewhere outside a casting office on Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills in yet another luxury shampoo commercial casting, as I viewed myself from the outside, standing in a line of 30 women who could be my twins, I realized that this was not my power. I had given up my power, the things that propelled me forward and kept me fascinated in the daily turn of the earth, and all I had gotten back for my effort was a call from my agent saying that the casting director really liked me yet had chosen someone else for the commercial. It was time for a change, which required me to stand up for what I believed in, grow brave, and tap into what I knew was true.
Despite that many girls would want the life of a model and the perceived benefits that having beauty can give you, relying on what others think of your looks is not powerful or fulfilling, so maybe it is time for us to let that go. Power comes from something much deeper, it comes from the instinct in your gut, from what your heart says when you stop using logical reasoning to convince it of something different. What are you giving up your power for, and what steps can you make to get it back?