Be Your Own Superhero

Think back, way back, to when you were a little boy or a little girl….

….are you there?

Who are you?

Who did you want to be?

Who was your favourite hero? Your superhero?

Was it Superman? Supergirl? Batman, Robin, or Batgirl? He Man? Wonder Woman? Bionic Man? Spiderman?

Are you smiling yet? Feeling anything is possible? Ready to conquer your fears and change the world?

What if you are your own superhero?

What if we are all different, but the same?

What if normal, weird, odd, boring….are all just labels, a reflection of the other person’s worldview? And what if you are normal, weird, odd, and/or boring? Does that really define you? Does that really limit your potential and the possibilities? Or do they propel you?

When we were little, we all strived to be normal because that was the message we got. Whenever a kid called us weird, did you not feel a mixture of anxiety and glee? Confusing, huh? From young, our physical growth and IQ were measured against percentile charts. Our performance, from school grades to pay grades, had to fit within some bell curve. And if you were extraordinarily below or above? More labels right? ADHD, autistic, mentally challenged, genius, prodigy…

Society likes labels because it helps people peg everyone to their cubicles. Maybe life’s beautiful unpredictability is too much – uncontrollable, unconquerable.

I grew up with closet Goths. Punk rock was in. Mohawks were cool. Grunge was stylish. These days I see on Facebook unabashed celebrations of being weird, being different. It’s probably a function of the people I hang with and the pages I like. My worldview is that we celebrate who we are. And I’ve always felt different. I didn’t want a cookie-cutter life. But that’s me. Not you. Well, maybe you…

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against mainstream or the norm (whatever that even means!). Absolutely nothing. But for far too long, the oddball got the short end of the stick and now people are more open to wearing their differences on their sleeves. Thanks to the power of the internet, the “geeks” are finally cool!

Political correctness had us all politely saying we are the same. We are. We are more similar than we think. That’s for sure.  Sometimes I just want to shout out Merry Christmas, even though I’m not Christian! But I diverge.

For me, it’s not about being the same or being different. The key is being YOU, whatever that is. There is NO judgment there. It’s choices that you make. You can have all sorts of role combos in your life. A pole dancing swinging soccer mom. How cool. An accountant all inked up (and I don’t mean from all the green and red pens!). Whatever.

IT. DOESN’T. MATTER.

What does matter?

Well, being YOU.

What if everything you ever found easy to do, is actually just easy for you?

When you were young and you had invisible friends, didn’t you assume everyone did as well?

When you see colours and orbs (or the future), don’t you assume everyone else does too?

We don’t know we are different, until someone tells us we are.

We don’t know we have skills, until someone points it out to us.

But if we listen, we always know what we love. What buoys our spirit and touches our soul.

So what comes easy to you? What do you love to do? The intersection of these is what your superpowers are!

And everything else? Leave it.

A superhero is a specialist, except probably Superman. Everyone else had their thing. And they rocked it. They developed it. A better batsuit. They had their sidekicks/companions, like Robin and Battle Cat.

And once you are a specialist, you become a generalist. When you do what you love, you radiate. You become an example/reference to others that living life as YOU is awesome. And when your awesomeness kicks into high gear, there are no limits!

But the one thing about these superheroes… They were all alter-egos and hid behind disguises or in isolation, except maybe Thor and Iron Man. Not that it really fooled anyone, except those around them. It not only fooled them, but caused them much grief and confusion. Think their love interests.

My question to you is why would you want to hide? What masks of ineptitude are you wearing? Why are you so scared of the amazing you?

Don’t waste time designing your superhero suit. You need none of that. You can dress anyway you want – stilettos or barefoot. Minis or sweats. Laced up shoes or loafers.

The important thing is for you to drop the crap that you are good at but hate to do, the crap that you hate to do but feel you should, the crap that are easy but makes you want to staple your head….Do what you ROCK and makes you a ROCK STAR.

So go on, declare your superpowers to the world and BE your own superhero!

 

article inspired by Danielle Laporte