Town Hall 2017: Did We Empower YOU?

Take Care of YOU and Empower All Generations

Presenter: Corie Weathers, Licensed Professional Counselor, 2015 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year

TAKEAWAYS:

The biggest thing Weathers hears from spouses is that they don’t know what their purpose is. “My biggest concern is spouses today are chameleons and we have an identity problem,” she says.

“How will you serve or empower anybody else if you don’t know who you are? Let your own light shine, which gives other people permission to do the same. When you stop being afraid and insecure, that’s when you have power. Not that you use over other people – power you use as influential to make a difference in other people’s lives.”

What kind of a superhero are you as a military spouse? Where are you on your superhero journey? Weathers walks through the steps each superhero takes on their journey.

1. Backstory. Before a superhero has a power, they have a backstory. It’s often painful, but your backstory matters to your purpose and to what makes you passionate.
2. Call to adventure. Some superheroes have denied their calling at first, which is a sabotage moment. It’s not about who’s against you or who you’re out to rescue; it’s about yourself, who you’ll be and what you need to do within yourself to deal with it all.
3. Answer the call. No one can make the choice for you if you’re going to answer a call or not; you have to answer it yourself and realize it’s worth it to move forward with messy people and a messy life. True healing happens in the backstory when you can bring purpose and meaning to what’s happened and use it to bring hope into other people’s lives.
4. Blessing, which comes right after internal conflict. There is always a blessing on the other side of answering a call. We fear the blessings won’t come after internal conflicts, but they do.
5. Establish a dual persona. Superheroes have gone through a growth. Every superhero must go home and wrestle with the fact they are different. They know something about the world and about themselves they didn’t know before. You’re ready to make an impact on the world when you realize you can be in both places. You don’t have to be fully accepted anywhere for you to accept yourself. You are you wherever you go.