Your Greatest Superpower!

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Ten simple syllables, responsible for life-quaking impulses. This is a question we have all heard before. Prior to being shepherded into the education system, during our primary education, beyond our secondary education, even upon securing the first job that makes our family and close friends proud to have supported us for so long. This is the trigger which snaps our deepest insecurities to the forefront of the left hemisphere of our brain, and coerces us into doubting every major decision of our adult life.

As a child, I was instructed that I could be anything my heart desires. I could be an artist, or a musician, a rocket scientist, a pastor, or even a president. The sky's the limit and boundaries are nonexistent, I was told. As I progressed in my education, my above-average intellect was praised and my potential was further ingrained into my ego. Truth be told, it was nice to be appreciated for my “hard work” in school, but the effort I put forth was merely expected, rather than required for my future pursuits. Unlike my peers and older brother, with their irrational dreams of becoming professional sports athletes or successful businessmen, my dream job was simple. The job title, simple. The job description, even simpler. In fact, I had even started my training at a young age; a true protege, or so I believed. My training consisted of dueling monsters in the living room, and reading fantastical novels which informed me of the many magical threats to the mundane world that surrounded me. I would practice my ability to bend the elements every morning as I walked to school with my confused older brother, and I dared, pleaded really, for some unsuspecting evil to surface while I meandered about the unexciting halls. If you haven’t guessed by now, my dream job was to be a superhero. My superpower? All of them! The sky was the limit after all, and my research illustrated the only reason heroes fail is because they are limited by their own specialization.

Needless to say, as well-intentioned as they may have been, my parents lied to me. I continued to surpass many of my peers academically, but to this day, my ability to teleport or ply the elements at will has yet to break through the realm of imagination and into the third dimension.

I wish I could say that I was unique in my superhero aspirations. I wish I knew that someday, as a result of my unique desires, I would actually be granted the ability to save lives and flaunt my supernatural gifts. But we both know these would be lies. At some point over the past 300,000 years, the desire to be God-like wove itself into the Homosapien genetic code and thrust us into the delusion that our greatest gifts are those that we can not obtain. We have been coerced into pleading the heavens for the ability to teleport instantaneously or even shape shift into our human idols. We continue to barricade ourselves with fantasies of average people being gifted with “great responsibility,” or the idea that gifted humanoid extraterrestrials live among us and are perfectly content with their very human lifestyles. Consider yourself, for example, can you honestly say that if given the opportunity to have any superpower RIGHT NOW, you don’t already have one in mind?

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

It is a simple question. A flawed one, but simple nonetheless. Perhaps it was designed to intentionally blanket the very human desire to impact creation, and influence children to seek the mundane. Or, maybe out of a subconscious desire to protect our most treasured golems, we repeatedly inundate them with the ten syllables in order to shatter the delusion that superhuman gifts are worth desiring. After all, why do any of us want superpowers? Never mind the fact that heroes are idolized and we all secretly crave attention; I am talking about the core of what makes us individually human. Why is it that I have yet to relinquish the hope that I could one day surpass my sapien boundaries and develop supernatural gifts to mold the world as I see it? Well, in one of my all time favorite quotes (it LITERALLY gives me chills every time I read it) Marianne Williamson describes humanity's delusion succinctly, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?”

Whether children, preteens, or unsatisfied 30 year old workaholics gleaming with potential, the fact is we DO have superpowers. Many of them lie dormant, bubbling with intensity until we decide it is worthwhile to tap into these gifts, but I have personally seen them in action. Admittedly, the words we use to label these powers are not as impressive or dominating as the imaginative abilities we endow upon our fictitious idols. But, when wielded correctly, they are much more inventive then we give them credit for. In my longing to be God-like, I looked to the stars for answers. Consistently they flare, brilliantly lighting the path to greatness for homo sapiens for hundreds of thousands of years. Through earth-quaking volcanic eruptions and foundation shattering hurricane winds, through indiscriminate killing of humans and premeditated animal genocide, through the highs and the lows of human evolution, consistently the stars pulsate with purpose.

“What do you want to achieve when you grow up?”

In my opinion, a much better question to ask of those who have yet to create the reality of their dreams.

Do you know?

Because I do.

I have known ever since I was a boy, battling monsters in my parents’ living room and banishing demons from under my bed. I want to eradicate the creepy crawlies that slither in our brains and suffocate our potential to live the breadth of the Human Experience. I encourage you to discover your own greatest aspiration, disentangle it from the chaos of your ego and when you find it, take a hint from the stars. Tap into your greatest superpower, and pursue your dream Consistently.

Photo Credits:

Photo 1: Media from Wix

Photo 2: Marquize Fells

Photo 3: Najee Hudgins