Anxiety is also a superpower

Teenagers grow. They go through phases and become young adults, unaware of how tough, emotionally-draining, and exhausting young adulthood may be. Adults don't talk about how challenging it is. It's like in movies, when the teenage hero discovers at the age of eighteen, that he has hidden superpowers. We realize that we have insecurities, anxiety, and depression. Those are not as cool as flying, having super strength, or becoming invisible. Then we try to keep those powers under control, buried within us, and away from the public to not attract attention because superheroes in the eyes of society are different, so are we. We live carrying it as a burden because our community had set norms concerning mental health that do not apply to us. It defined sanity as to experience positive emotions and excluded negativity so much that people think that it is wrong to feel sad, or not in particularly good humour. 

Superheroes live a double-life. They have two identities. They act like regular people during the day when they are around people at school or work, while they fight crime at night. They don't reveal what makes them different around others so as not to scare them. We also show two different faces. We develop a thick skin and build walls around our hearts. We put a smile on our face around others, so they don't think that something is wrong, only to process whatever we are going through once we are alone because being emotionally vulnerable is comparable to being weak. 

We fear emotional vulnerability. Moreover, we fear judgment and rejection. Wanting to avoid pain and shield ourselves from those is natural, but we need to learn to express our feelings, to open up to other people whether they are our friends or family, and to seek help. We need to embrace our true nature, to love it, accept it, and at its deepest. We are giving up our power by putting barriers and protective, but destructive layers around it. It is only through allowing ourselves to be vulnerable that we can overcome any obstacle, and grow stronger. It is the key to creating new ideas and fresh possibilities. We need to risk failure to have a chance to succeed.

At the end of the day, superheroes come out triumphant, proud of what makes them different, since its what makes them unique. They save lives, and we have the power to do that too, in our way. It only takes a little emotional courage to do wonders. 

As Criss Jami says: " To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength".

     

                                                                                                                    By : El Mehdi El Araari

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                                                                                                                       Aissa Saidi