Changemakers Lab Module 2 : Failing in Power

I have been woefully remiss in posting/sharing my updates. But this is not an indication of my work on my initiative. Surprisingly enough, for the first time in my life I am proceeding SLOWLY with a big idea. I am a big picture ideator, and then I am impatient for all the little things to fall into place so the picture can take shape. The lack of sharing updates also comes from a space of having a love/hate relationship with having to DO all things social media related. However as I negotiate my way around this dissonance, the module on power, partnership and community resonated. I looked at power a little differently for myself through this process.

As I began to focus on the little details of preparing for my idea, I realised how important  it is to feel empowered while actually doing the work of community building. Baby steps for the first time meant I needed to step back, allow the process to evolve and also be open to asking for help and collaboration. Being a "lone wolf" doesn't cut it. 

If my initiative is all about women's stories, then I needed to look at my narrative first. This has been a self-illuminating process. Some questions came up as I navigated through my self narratives.

What are the ways in which we don't allow ourselves to take power? (Family Conditioning ring a bell?) Maybe you were vocal about choosing your career but had to bend to family's will for your life partner or maybe it was the other way around. Maybe you have been a vocal advocate of body neutrality but have allowed someone to influence your sense of body self. It bears thinking. Self-narratives are deeply impactful and work quietly in the background and influence much of how we live our lives. So I guess you could say, I am working to discard those narratives that just dont work for me anymore.

What are the ways in which we don't allow someone else to fully come into their power? (Women enforcing patriarchy?)

I had the good fortune to connect with fellow Changemaker Ruthibelle, who is a bright spark of energy and our initiatives connect beautifully. Thank you WP for making us Changemaker buddies. Together we developed a framework of questions, that she will use in her written stories initiative, and that I will use in my digital timecapsule.

Toddler crawl progressing to teeny tiny steps.

P.S: Oh also, my title is "Failing in Power" because sometimes we can have all the power we think we want, but still fail - this is not necessarily a bad thing. Failure is a great learning tool. But just to reiterate that Power does not equal Success.