I am my own Superhero

“She needed a superhero so she became one”. How do we, as women, in this society become our own superhero? How do we break free from the imagined idea that we need someone, typically a man, to save us? From what or from whom do we need saving?
Becoming a superhero to save others sounds very altruistic but I couldn’t begin to think of how to save others because I needed to be saved. 

I tried getting my mom, my husband, my friends, my job to save me and that really wasn’t working out the way I had expected. When all those options failed I realized I needed to become my own superhero! AWESOME!!! What now?

The first step in change is becoming aware. Awareness is a gift and when you are able to step back, look at the cycle of choice/consequence and measure that against what your ‘ideal’ life looks like, you will notice some disparities.

I can’t identify my turning point because I believe it is now irrelevant. I do know I was miserable. I felt empty and deprived. I felt a deep yearning in my Spirit for something, anything bigger and better than the small cramped life I was living.
I realized I needed to be saved from myself, from my anger and my overwhelming fear of everything. I was a sad, sorry young woman. I acted out in self-destructive ways. My actions were impacting my family, my friends, and my marriage.

I knew I was a good person but my actions weren’t always good. How could I begin to bring those two concepts into harmony, into alignment? I initially changed my behavior in order to change my consequences. I soon realized that I found peace in my new actions and thought less and less of the outcome.

The interesting thing about awareness is that it spirals up and out, perhaps in all directions. Once I realized I wanted change I began to change then I realized I enjoyed the feeling of change and I changed even more.

The Buddha talks about liberation and transformation like the opening of a lotus, Shrek talks about the self as an onion. The truth is found in each petal as the lotus opens and between each layer of the onion skin as it is peeled away. Transformation is a powerful process and we can experience growth in so many ways.

I believe a hero is someone who overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds and perseveres, succeeds even when they seem to fail. A superhero remains true to the betterment of Self before they can be anyone else’s superhero. “She needed a superhero so she became one”. I believe she was already a superhero and didn’t recognize the costume.

Namaste