Superpowers. A multidimensional phrase, ready to be interpreted in a completely different way by everyone. Without much effort, we find our thoughts drifting to many different things upon hearing it.
A “warm” interpretation was given by N., who told us: “a superpower that could be useful in this world is an open heart. If we could all see a little more deeply what everyone is going through, why we are what we are, why we show what we show, why we don’t dare, why we are afraid, why we hesitate, why… It’s easy to judge, easier to label others, even easier to sort out the ‘acceptable’, piling everything and everyone else to the margins. If I could give everyone a superpower it would be an open heart, a heart that hurts, feels, senses, anguishes and fears all those who judge the person who carries it.”
Of course, the range of answers could not go without the supernatural element! L. told us: “I would like to be able to fly, to be able to transport myself to my people as easily as possible whenever they need me. That way, I would feel closer to them all the time, even when I was incredibly far away from them.”
In real life, however, our world is much “smaller” than the glory of superpowers. Their existence appears only in our imaginations and in the stories we build, somehow trying to give a complex meaning to the already existing order of things, which sometimes puts us in molds. In the real world, unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately – the true, tangible and visible power appears in a much more unexpected way.
For each of us the word power and how it is realized is different. That’s the beauty of it too, isn’t it? But the unshakable, over time instances of gaining power appear where you least expect it: in the darkest moments of your existence, or where you crave it so much that you chase it until you see it come alive. A timeless “dilemma” is thus created: after all, does real power come when you lose everything, or when you manage to get what your soul longs for?
So, imagine a time in your life when your social battery starts to drain. For each of us, a difficult period unfolds in a completely different way and every situation and condition affects our psyche differently. However, the common ground in all our stories is the feeling of hopelessness. The way you might have gotten to this point is your own, untouched story, which you know inside and keep as a talisman. Its subject matter can also vary, don’t limit yourself to thinking about a specific phase of your life. It can be about the people around you, your work, your school, your social life. Returning, however, to this common point of all the stories, the prevailing feeling is despair. Lack of hope and motivation wears you down and even the smallest action, whether physical or mental, tires you even in the thought of it. Suddenly, the colors fade, your rhythms take on a suffocating rote, and the background gets grayer and grayer.
And yet, you just have to take a better look. If you dig deeper, somewhere within this repetitive suffocating loop is a warm and familiar melody. A tune that screams for you to listen to and pump it up even more: get up, run, try, let yourself go and start all over again. Suddenly, your cells synchronize to create this supreme sense of yes: yes, I can pick myself up again, yes, I can stand up for myself and lift my head higher than it was before. And this feeling begins, little by little, to embrace you in the most tender way and from mild force it turns into a driving one. Yes, power! This power awakens you and so what previously seemed impossible, is now possible. This power arises only from you and the trust you will put in it and in the new path, which is your new starting point, one that no longer frightens you. On the contrary, you dig your heels in. Somehow, this inner and insuperable force is ready to guide you and help you continue from where you left off and reach exactly where you secretly desire.
But what if you’ve reached where you want to be? Through your personal marathon, you have managed to realize your goals in any field. All the hard work, persistence and trust in your plan got you to the top. And the hidden treasure at the top is a power unlike any other. On the one hand, it gives you the confirmation that you have succeeded and on the other hand, it pushes you to continue at the same pace and with the same tactics. But be careful because this kind of power also places Pandora’s box out of sight. This hearty power you get when you manage to finish the marathon can easily backfire on you. The lines between the ultimate feeling of conquest and greed are blurred. However, as long as your sight is “clear”, you have nothing to fear.
Of course, no one can deny how good it feels when you have this power of success in your hands. Pride and joy overflow from everywhere and, from one moment to the next, you feel invincible. The world around you becomes somewhat brighter and this power defeats any doubt or second thought that tries to ground you. You look in the mirror and now you see yourself. You really see yourself. You did it, you whisper to yourself, and now your next step is to set new goals, new pursuits, with this incredible power that you managed to acquire with great difficulty as your compass. This power is ready to guide you to new aspects of yourself and your abilities.
Maybe superpowers aren’t impossible after all. In reality, no one and nothing can rob you of that magical, inner button that, when pushed, can make you find courage in simplicity. It can make you find courage in everyday stimuli full of inspiration or even from moments of absolute despair or absolute victory. It’s so exciting how many forms of power you can discover and perhaps eventually master in your life. Some of them are darker, others are brighter. Whatever the form of that power might be, its results “burn” and certainly cannot be hidden.
We would rightly say that this power reaches the glory of superpowers!
*The initials of the names were used for the purposes of the article and are fictional. There is no correlation with reality. The forms, in which the answers are provided by the audience, are and will remain anonymous.
