Powerful

I watch people at the gym who lift weights and pull up and push up over and over and effortlessly use those machines that have you move iron bricks that no one should be able to move. And I don't feel very powerful.

I see the people in the fancy suits and the expensive shoes who make a lot more money at a young age than I make at a not-so-young age. And I don't feel very powerful.

I think of all the opportunities that have passed me by when I hesitated or lost confidence or was simply involved elsewhere. And I don't feel very powerful.

But when I go where I want to go and do what I want to do, I feel powerful.

And when I master what I thought I couldn't, I feel powerful.

When I embrace the joyful and brush away the frustrating, I feel powerful.

And when I make personal choices, not just professional ones, I feel powerful.

When I stand up for myself, I feel powerful.

And when I speak up for what I believe, I feel powerful.

It often seems that the power is in someone else's hands. But we can feel powerful if we choose--IF we choose. Because sometimes, power is not about the big things. It's about the little things we can hold in our hands, and decide to handle. So that every day, in almost every situation, we can feel powerful.