Empowerment is when someone has power, permission, and/or authority to do something. This often comes from outside the person. For example, our customers might empower us to do certain work for them. We might empower others to make decisions for us. Laws might empower women to have more equality in the workforce.
Self-empowerment comes from inside of us. It is when we give ourselves the power, permission, and/or authority to do something. This might be to become the person we want or to create the life we want. We have the power within us to create what we desire. Often what stands in our way is ourselves. We might not think we have the power within us. We do. We might think we do not have the right to exercise this power. We do. We need to give ourselves permission to use our power to go after what we want.
Self-empowerment is when we use our power to take control of all aspects of our life. It is when we take responsibility not only for our words and deeds, but also for our thoughts. It is when we decide what we want, develop a plan to achieve it, and implement the plan.
Honest self-reflection is a necessary first step. Who are you and why do you do the things you do? Without doing this, you cannot determine what is holding you back from empowering yourself.
