Personal empowerment: how can we promote it to overcome adversities?

Have you ever felt “small” and that you couldn’t do anything against the adversities that life presented you at that moment? You start to think that you are useless and worthless. You believe that things are going to go wrong for you and that you can’t do anything to change it.

What does this entail? Don’t make efforts to get out of that situation: you think they won’t work. You thus enter a vicious circle from which it is difficult to get out and which causes your discomfort to grow… Is there anything we can do? Yeah! To change the chip, continue reading and discover the benefits of empowerment!

What is personal empowerment?

When we enter the spiral of learned helplessness, our personal situation gets worse and worse. Feeling that we have no power to change things undermines our physical and mental health. It is clear that it can be very difficult to cope with life’s adversities. Difficult yes, but impossible neither.

If someone told us that our existence was going to be a bed of roses because it was made of good intentions, they lied to us. The thought of that little devil who tells us that everything is going badly is not valid either. In this sense, happiness is usually a product of balance; a balance we rarely find if we don’t make an effort to work with the forces within and outside of us. It is a question of will…, but also of skill and intelligence.

What I mean by this? That things, by themselves, do not usually change. It is very important that we see ourselves as valid beings to reorient the forces we talked about before and reach a position of balance. Of course, without forgetting that there are many things that escape our will. This is important, since if we try to control everything we will become frustrated.

Definitely, Empowerment is about making the person capable of making decisions and facing the different situations that arise. In this process, it is key for the person to see that the discomfort is not simply imposed by external events, but is an internal process that they can control and manage.

How can we foster personal empowerment?

To make a person look like this, it is key that they have adequate self-esteem. Promoting a positive view of oneself will make us trust more in our abilities and in the power to change what we would like. Now, that self-esteem has to adjust to reality.

We do ourselves a disservice if we create too high expectations that we will not be able to achieve. Then we will get frustrated. Thus, It is extremely important that we know ourselves well and are aware of our strengths and weaknesses. To be able to place ourselves in this position and with this disposition, it is important that we put ourselves to the test.

If we do not take risks, it will be difficult for us to move forward. Confronting ourselves with reality will help us see that our problems are rarely as terrible as we thought and that we have the necessary skills to face adversity. On the other hand, if we fail in our attempt, we can see what we have done wrong and modify it to achieve a better result.

What are the characteristics of an empowered person?

Finally, let’s see what characteristics we can observe in an empowered person:

It is informed and try to learn about those topics that interest you.Seek training and acquire new skills.It’s responsible.It is known and accepted to herself.Has adequate self-esteem and self-confidence.Is aware of the importance of taking care of yourself.Know what your social relationships are like and take care of those that are worthwhile, but without self-boycotting, looking for balanced relationships and without toxic emotional dependence. He is aware of the importance of setting limits in his interpersonal relationships. He is able to plan his time, establishing objectives, needs and priorities.He knows how to make decisions.Try to resolve conflicts in the best possible way for all parties. He communicates by using his social skills and exercising assertiveness, so that takes into account the rights of others and its own.

In short, after empowerment, people are more capable of living in harmony with ourselves and with others, so that our social relationships gain in quality and their psychological state improves…Work to continue evolving as a person!

Images courtesy of Michael Rosner Hyman, Austin Schmid and Jerry Kiesewetter.

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