Power isn’t just about who has more money, or who is the most physically imposing, no what I am talking about here is what holds power over us. What is the strongest emotion (feeling) out there? (we could also say situation) I’ll tell ya what it is…it’s fear. Now, don’t laugh (though I know my husband will) but I was watching Oprah the other day, and Melissa Etheridge was on the show (I think it was a repeat from last year). Many of us know she survived a terrifying bout with Breast CAncer, and she said one thing that really surprised her was with all the ‘get well’ cards she got only two people actually verbalized the word “Cancer”. Everyone else just let it hang in the air. She said the fact that many people simply don’t verbalize the word is what gives cancer this stigma in our society. It’s not Cancer it’s “The Big C” or “The C word” (funny, I always thought that meant something else, but that is for another post). By giving in to our fear, be it cancer or something else, we give it tremendous power over us.

Now, that I am happily married, I can sit here and say one of my biggest fears was being alone. Of not ever finding and having that all consuming love, that partnership I feel with my husband, BUT it wasn’t until I got over that fear that I was able to meet my husband head on. It wasn’t until I believed that no matter what the future held for me I would be ok, that I was able to give someone else what I craved myself. Now, I can’t speak for my husband here, but I like to think that I have given him as much as he has given me (Let’s see…I have given him four kids thereby increasing his food bill, income to debt ratio, his pain tolerance AND his patience….come on…who wouldn’t appreciate that!?) And in the end, I have my fear to thank. Getting over my fear, learning to live with it, to hold it dear and ultimately conquer it has given me the life I always dreamed of!