Recently there has been an uptick in mental health discussions which is awesome. With the discussions, many of us who simply attributed internal issues and emotional battles as a part of life began to take a deeper look and realize we may be battling a more serious issue. Depression and Anxiety are the two most common issues we put the “just a part of life” tag on. Now that we know what we are discussing, I want to look at these issues via what we should look at as superpowers. Lots of us go through life admiring superheroes because they have special abilities to deal with issues life presents to them. We also know that they always have a weakness and at times their powers can work against them. The four superpowers I want to discuss are Perception, Intuition, Empathy, and Creativity.
Those of us who possess the Perception superpower has the superior ability to find whatever they want out of any situation. These people can spot a speck of good in a sea of bad and multiply that speck across their entire lives. It’s amazing. They make the saying perspective is reality a reality. This works against the bearer of the superpower when depression and anxiety are involved. The amazing ability to take a spec of good from a sea of bad flips. The power works against them and can compound the difficulty of battling either of those two. A supreme ability to control your outlook on life is great but remember to shift negative focus to positive. You have that power.
Need to drop a few pounds? Keto is the way.
Take the 28 day Keto Challenge for just $37!
Intuition is a superpower that allows a person who possesses it to operate through life on a gut feeling. It guides them as if they have this invisible helper the rest of us would kill for. They can make big decisions quickly and move with confidence because it feels good. They are great at reading people and seeing through BS because they get this “something is off” feeling. Their highly sensitive gut is something that they can usually follow blindly. The weakness here is you can’t trust your intuition when going through or recovering from trauma. Depression and Anxiety fit the description of trauma. Understand your guide is not operating as usual when you are not in the right mindset. Analyze your decisions a little more to protect yourself.
Empathy is a superpower that enables a person to understand and share the feelings of another. Unlike most of us, they can experience a wide range of emotions and are ultra-aware of social cues. They naturally attract others with issues because they always understand. They are great friends to have if you want that shoulder to cry on without the judgment of family or coldness of the “tell it like it is” friend. Some have the additional ability to recognize social cues at an elite level. They can read the temperature of a room and adjust. This is great until depression and anxiety are in the mix. Depression can be amplified because of their ability to soak in the emotions of others around them. If they happen to possess the additional trait of social cues recognition, their anxiety can reach unhealthy heights with them misreading social cues they used to catch 100% of the time. If this is you, be extra careful when going through trauma.
Creativity is a superpower that enables the person who possesses it to think outside the box to solve problems. These people can take grief or terrible situations and create amazing pieces of art from it. Be it a song, a painting, an educational story, or a comedy, they take something that seems as if it has no possibility of good coming from it and find a way to create it. They are constant producers of content. Constant givers. When Depression and/or Anxiety are involved, creators tend not to show any signs of pain. They don’t change on the outside because nothing about them changes. They take the issues of the world and use it to create. They do the same for themselves. Think of how many tragic stories you’ve heard about. How many of them involved entertainers? Yes, it may seem unfair because entertainers are famous and their stories make headline news. This may be the case but the suicide rate of creators is first of the four superpowers mentioned. If you hold this superpower, be extra aware of the seriousness of the situation when you are going through trauma. You are at the highest risk and no one can tell.
In closing, just like the superheroes we admire on screen, we have superpowers. We need to discover them and learn to utilize them. Know the strengths and weaknesses of them. Learn how they can help and hurt us. Once we have done this, we can then equip ourselves with a cape both literally and figuratively.
Food for thought…You do the dishes.
Need to drop a few pounds? Keto is the way.
Take the 28 day Keto Challenge for just $37!