I have talked about starting a blog for quite some time now, almost coming up on a year, and for whatever reason (tired, work, scared, etc.) I haven’t pulled the trigger until now. My reason for finally posting this first blog came from a challenge during a class that I was in recently. Although the challenge was verbalized by my partner in class, the work that we did to get to the challenge was something that I articulated, and she helped to make it something tangible, with personal accountability.

Through a journey I have recently embarked on to better myself professionally and personally, it continues to amaze me how the body and mind know whether you are ready for something, consciously or unconsciously and what drives a person to take action. This took me back to when I was a teenager learning how to drive a car with manual transmission. I remember my father teaching me the basics, watching him closely to learn the different movements and the effect it had on the car. When he finally became comfortable with the idea of me behind the wheel, he started me out slowly, and we practiced in a parking lot where I couldn’t do too much damage.

Over time I progressed and graduated to being able to drive around the neighborhood, then the day came where my father felt I was “ready” to drive in Chicago traffic. As we sat at the stop sign where I normally made a left for my practice circle, I could see the traffic on the main street, I put the car into first gear and stalled, for the next month or so I stalled at that stop sign. It was as if everything I had done up to this point just disappeared. My father and I even made a joke that there was some external force that didn’t want me leaving the neighborhood. Until one day a female friend heard I was learning how to drive a manual and said that she wanted to go for a ride. Without any hesitation that day I went home from school, begged my father to take me out to practice, and sure enough, I didn’t stall and made it out of the neighborhood, and haven’t looked back since. The joy I felt from getting over that barrier at that moment was on many levels, getting over the personal obstacle, and more importantly at the time getting to drive around with my female friend.

As I thought about that experience in my teenage years and the obstacle I was putting in place for writing my first blog it raised for me that depending on the situation, sometimes we push ourselves through to just do it, and other times we may need an external push to get over an obstacle. However, no matter the external push the ability to get over the obstacle is always inside of us. As I continue to get in touch with and value my power, it is proving to be an exciting, emotional, and expressive journey. This journey started with a simple yet powerful question, which I offer to you to consider.

How do you use your power?