Make a Dent in The Universe!

There is this scene in “The Incredibles” where Elastigirl breaks down when she suspects that her husband, Mr. Incredible, cheats on her.

They have all been under a cover for awhile, trying to act normally and fit in, but this has been a major strain on everyone in the family. Elastigirl has become a housewife and in this moment of despair she seems to forget about her super identity.

“What am I going to do?” she asks Edna Mode in unusually pathetic tone, sobbing and wiping her nose in a paper tissue.
“What will you do??? Is that a question?!” comes the outraged response.
“You will show him that he is Mr. Incredible and you will remind him who you are!”

Sometimes we all need a reminder

Elastigirl needed a reminder herself. It’s actually surprisingly easy to forget who we really are. As kids we are taught to believe that we have an abundance of super powers. We know that when we grow up we can be whomever we choose to be. But something happens to us along the way – those beliefs are verified by life: bounced off of other people’s opinions and ideas of us (sometimes well-meaning, but not right by definition) and ultimately shaped by them.

When a busy career, hectic family life or other circumstances get in the way, we have to adjust to whatever it is that life throws at us, sometimes at the high cost of compromising and eventually forgetting who we really are and what our true purpose is. We lose the confidence that comes from that knowledge and let the Gremlin in.

Are you giving away your superpowers?

And the sad part is: we let other people define us, even though they rarely care, and spend little time really getting to know us; we let our jobs define us, even though sometimes they are grossly misaligned with our true strengths and passions; finally, we let circumstances and random events define us, even though we intuitively know that it makes no sense.

In essence, we give away the power to decide who we are or should be: we give away our super powers.

It’s not always obvious what those powers are and how to use them

Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl and the rest of the family struggled with being super and fitting in, all at the same time. But they managed to find their unique voices and be comfortable with their true selves through trial and error - and that’s really the only way there is.

It might be a lengthy journey of self exploration, reflection and occasionally turning a wrong corner or two, but all this hard work eventually pays off. It’s worthwhile taking the time to think about who we really are, what’s important to us, and what we stand for.

We need to ask ourselves if we are in tune with our values and passions or merely stuck in roles that are beneath us, like Mr. Incredible at one point, sitting in his tiny cubicle in the insurance company, doing a job he deeply despises.

We all have superpowers. The trick is to know what those powers are in the first place and then to not settle for the mediocre life. Instead, we can make a conscious choice to at least try, as Steve Jobs advises, to make a dent in the universe.

NOTE:
As I was finishing this post, I noticed that being super is a popular subject lately. Please check out “You Are Your Own Superhero” by the always eloquent Chris Brogan. I like how his view expands on my point: we not only give away our super powers, we actually wait for others to save us. “You don’t have to wait for someone to save you. You’re the hero. Do it. Pick up the challenge and bring yourself to what has to happen next” says Chris. Amen to that.

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