Power

We all have power. Power over ourselves. Power over others. But what does that mean really?

We say it all the time. We say, “I don’t want to let so and so have that much power over me.” Or we say, “I wish I had more power over my job.”

I ask again, what does that really mean?

Seems like “power” is a catchall kind of word either for something desired or something to be avoided.

Maybe if we were more specific about our needs, we could get what we want more often. But by lumping them all under the heading of “power,” we lose sight of the basic nature of what might be troubling us.

Better to say something like, “I am not going to let so and so push me into sitting on another committee that I don’t really want to sit on.” Or we could say, “I really need to let my boss know that I need more time off to tend to my health issues.”

By being specific about what it is that we need and want, we can take specific steps to get what we need and want. But if “power” is all that we want … well we’ve got that already, always have had it, but it doesn’t necessarily get us anywhere constructively.