Angélica Gómez (2005)

 

When some Pachas contacted me to talk about my experience on empowerment I could think of nothing. And then I thought /realized this was the first symptom to not being able to empower oneself! You might be expecting a great story, something like being president of some company or travelling far far away to some lost land to change lives, but this is not it. This is more a more humble yet less obvious to the eye; so I felt in the obligation to help you see there could be empowerment in every action, either you choose it or it chooses you.

I’m a clinical and health psychologist at a mental health institution. I´ve been working there for the past three and a half years, and getting here has actually been an empowerment experience.  But to understand this we must first agree on what empowerment means. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary empower means “to give power to…” or “to give official authority or legal power to…” So, in the means of this article it would be to give ourselves the authority or power to do something, and the first authority I gave myself was to stick to my decision in my professional path, a career that for many has been defined as “beautiful” but “famished”; must add my parents suggested economy, business administration or accounting. But going against that paternal authority and following my own must say was the first of many empowerment acts.

Pursuing my professional passion led me to outsource training, so I went to Spain to fulfill my master’s degree and I have to share, when you have to live by yourself, no one to help you at home, when you have to do basic things like cooking, cleaning, deciding whether to go out or not, this is also an empowering experience (the one that chooses you) since you have to follow individual or independent criteria, or do things you have never done. This might seem trivial but it must not go unnoticed. We usually undervalue the insignificant actions we take when these are the ones that change us; no grain is more or less important, they all make what we call beach.   

Continuing my story, I finally came back and began working where I’m currently in and I admit I’m “famished”. But this famishing situation, life crisis might some people call it, is actually what could give you that power (if you choose to) to make something out of it. Being in that famished state of mind (and of pocket) one starts seeking new paths, new risky paths. So I’ve started an independent path, one that will allow me to release myself from any binding. I’ve started my private practice and currently I’m developing a workshop about assertive parenting guidelines; a little project of a big project I’m working on.  

Following an independent path is not easy, yet it is not more important or significant that the ones I mention before. This decision could have not been made without the previous ones. They “charged” every time I took them so I could have the power to make this current one.

So as you see, not a big transcendent story maybe one you can identify yourself with, one that could make you see that there is no need for one big action, just several small and consistent ones towards a goal or sense of living. So look into your story and identify those small but consistent actions, the ones that have bring to you the results you have wanted for your life. If the results in your life have been undesirable maybe you have been using your power or authority the wrong way.

This for me has been a lifetime of empowerment. What’s your lifetime empowering story?