Calling all women, you are powerful beyond measure!
You should not need proof of this fact, but if you have felt unsure of your power recently and you need a little nudge to step into it fully and unapologetically, don’t take it from me, take it from Marvel.
Over recent years Marvel has become marvelous. We welcomed Wonder Woman onto the big screen with DC and proved that a female superhero could smash a box office! Paving the way for the very first female Marvel Superhero film - Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel pulls no punches, she is a perfect representation of female power - strong, capable, fearless and accomplished.
Captain Marvel’s journey, while spanning different galaxies is an earthly experience as old as time for all women. The journey of stepping into our truest power, of showing-up in the world as our fullest, most authentic and most powerful selves.
You can most likely recall more than a handful of occasions when you played small to accommodate others, when you worried about coming across as too confident, too intelligent, too pushy or too outspoken. Or perhaps the opposite, you have plastered on a fake smile and assured others that everything is okay when it isn’t. Because you fear that your emotions are too much, your grief is too much, your distress is too much. The list is endless in both directions, but it’s time for it to end.
Captain Marvel is continuously told that she must learn to harness her power in order to master it, but what this really translates into is - "please don’t be as bad-ass as you were made to be because it’s far too intimidating and overwhelming for everyone else". We absorb variations of this message every day here on earth, until eventually it becomes a part us. It can feel like it’s been absorbed into every muscle and fiber of our being and changed not only our self-expectations but the essence of who we are.
No more.
Female Avengers it’s time to assemble.
It’s time to step into your awesomeness. Whether you’re channeling your inner Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Jessica Jones, Okoye or Gamora. Get it girl!
We’re changing the narrative today and it’s going to sound like this;
I am powerful beyond measure and I refuse to shrink in order to make others feel more comfortable.
Stepping into your power is a journey, it doesn’t happen overnight but it’s so worth it when you welcome in your new Captain Marvel mindset. The first phase of the journey begins when you start to accept yourself for all that you are. It involves moving away from the notion that you have to be perfect to be worthy. None of us are perfect, we are all perfectly imperfect.
It’s time to let go of the facade that you have to be seen as having it all together. You don’t. You also have to let go of your assumptions that everyone else has it together. They don’t. A marvel mindset is born when you begin to love yourself because of, and in spite of, everything that came before. The triumphs and the downfalls, the pain and the joy, all of it has shaped you and contributed to the strength you hold within yourself.
We can never truly know what other people are battling or have battled, but what we can be certain of is that perfection is a myth. When you let go of that myth, you begin to realize that much like your female heroes you’re incredible just as you are.
The journey will also require you to trust your inner voice, it’s time to stop allowing other people the ability to determine how you show-up in the world. In the same way that Captain Marvel realizes that the only person who really knows the depth of her story and her strength is the person staring back at her in the mirror, the same is true for you.
Our power is present when we show up fully and authentically and it isn’t always pretty. Sometimes its raw and uncompromising, sometimes it involves expressions of emotion, passion, confidence and assertiveness. And before you even think it, no that doesn’t make you bossy, it makes you Marvelous. For too long we have spent too much time worrying about how others perceive and receive us, and it’s not serving us.
Our heroes unapologetically focus on fine-tuning themselves, and it’s a lesson we have to learn on our own journey to greatness. The relationship we have with ourselves is the most important relationship we will ever have. For all the time we spend looking outwards and focusing on what people think of us, could be spent looking inwards and nurturing the thoughts we have about ourselves.
If you falter on any part of this journey, please think of the following for some much-needed inspiration and motivation. Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Okoye and Gamora weren’t given hammers, shields, wings, flying suits or an ability to shoot webs. They are their power, and their power is them.
You are your power, and your power is you. Embarking on your own heroes’ journey will harness it and strengthen it but only if you remember the following. Accept, love and nurture all of who you are. Pummel the myth of perfection in yourself and others. Illuminate your inner voice and trust it as your guide. Show-up as your full, authentic self in every situation. Prioritize your self-relationship.
And when you finally step into all of your power you will radiate so brightly it will strike a match in others, and they may utter the same words Captain Marvel did at the beginning of her journey. The same words you might utter at the beginning of yours.
“What will happen when I’m finally set free?”
And you’ll be able to look them square in the eye and say,
I will be unstoppable.
Maria Laquerre is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, who specializes in addressing trauma with clients of all ages. Maria has practiced therapy in New Mexico since her return in 2008. Maria's current passion is supporting therapists in doing their best clinical work, which she pursues through offering supervision, consultation and trainings. Maria enjoys spending time with her family, watching Star Wars and Marvel movies, discussing the psychology of pop culture and loves a good book!
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