your inner powers

Ok, so it's not like I've ever made it a secret that I kind of wish I was a superhero. It's kind of been a lifelong dream- have awesome powers, save the day, stop the bad guys, you know, everyday superhero stuff. You'd think I'd have outgrown it by now, but nah, I'm still contemplating all the time what I would do if I actually had superpowers, and how I would manage my day to day life with my job, church, "social life" and crime fighting while still keeping my friends and mom fooled. I watch stuff like Batman or Spidey or like any of the X-Men and think, dang, I wish I could be like insert just about any superhero excluding Aquaman here. 

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who does this. I think we all wish we were cooler than we see ourselves as. The problem though is then was start to ruthlessly beat ourselves up... except we don't have the whole Wolverine healing power thing to dull the pain. 

In our quest to hate ourselves, we might make superheroes out of other people; which on the one hand is awesome, but on the other is terrible. It's good cause we see people for everything that makes them good, but bad when we compare their best that they see with our own worst that we know all too well, and maybe even believe we're not as important or valuable as them. 

Or, just as bad, we'll turn others into supervillians and only see them by their faults or what they're not so great at. 

Beating yourself up only makes things worse, as it makes it harder to see where your own power is. You might see others and what makes them great, but not see yourself and what makes you great (which, I should add, is incredibly hard for many people to see in themselves). But I'm willing to bet that your experiences and talents, the stuff that makes you who you are- your superpowers- are much more valuable than you (or others for that matter) give yourself credit for.

But Scott, I don't have anything cool or interesting about me! I'm just a normal person! I haven't overcome any crazy challenges or traveled to any interesting places or even stopped a bank robbery! I can't help anyone with my "powers!"

You may be thinking the same thing as that strange voice that just interrupted my writing of this post. You might feel that you're unable to help with a difficult situation or that your powers are right kind to save the day. You might think you're no use at all, or that your skills are even worse than if you didn't have superpowers-- kind of like how this guy might feel--

Heheh. Admit it, you thought it was gonna be Aquaman.

I'll tell you though, as boring or powerless as you might think you are, you're stronger than that. Trust me. Looking back, it wasn't always the super experienced people who helped me survive the harder times of my life. It was often people who had just as much confronting my struggles as I did. 

My freshman year of high school ranks pretty high, if not the top of my terrible years of my life list. A lot of people were there to help me get through it. One in particular was my good friend since the 6th grade. He was more or less my only close friend going into high school and I think it was pretty clear to us and others that we were good friends even though we didn't really ever say it. 

While life was sort of blowing up in my face, my friend didn't change too much. He didn't try to pretend like he understood what I was dealing with. We'd walk home together, play video games, and talk after school about whatever high school kids talk about-- I don't think it would have been much different if life was normal for me. But for me, having a normal, consistent friend who wasn't faking it went so much further than he or I really thought it did at the time.

Contrast that with my high school counselor, who within a couple of 10-minute meetings, told me I was depressed and needed to be on medication. Granted, my life sucked, and I was sad, but I didn't have the emotional trouble that comes with depression at that point in my life, and deep down I knew she was wrong. 

The sad thing is, my counselor probably could have been a huge help with all her training and experience, if she had actually tried to get to know me and care about my point of view. But I really just felt like another box to check on her list of things to do, which made all of her knowledge and experience pretty useless, where my 14 year old friend was making superpowers out of being a normal kid.

No matter how dull or amazing you think your experiences are, you can turn them into powerful tools when you put your heart into it and use them to care about others. When you take the time to really know someone, you'll know which of your superpowers to use and when- whether a friend needs your advice, or to hear how you dealt with a situation, or if they just need a hug and for you to say you love them.

And though you may not be flying or shooting laser out of your eyes, you've made yourself a true hero to someone and shown more power than ever seen in a comic book or cartoon show.