Discover Your Secret Super Powers by Rochelle Melander
September 20, 2016
Note From Rochelle
Dear Writers,
Greetings!
I’ve got a delicious gift for you today! I’ve created a challenge to support you in designing your perfect writing life. The Plot Your Write Life Challenge is a five-day game—with daily quests to help you discover what works for you! Visit the Plot Your Write Life Challenge page and sign up today!
And to get you in the mood for the game, today’s tip will help you discover your secret superpowers!
Happy Writing!
Rochelle, the Write Now! Coach
Discover Your Secret Super Power
by Rochelle Melander
Did you know, you were born as the first, and the last and the best and the only one of your kind, and that eccentricity is the first sign of giftedness? These are two of the crone truths I have to offer you.
The Dangerous Old Woman: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
Several years ago, I spoke with a three-year-old boy wearing a cape and learned that he had a secret superpower. I don’t know about you, but on most days a few superpowers (not to mention the cape) would come in mighty handy for writing.
Author and Jungian psychoanalyst Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes says that we can find our giftedness (e.g., our secret super powers) inside our eccentricities. Often people criticize us for the very thing that makes us unique and exceptional. She encourages people to list everything they’ve been ridiculed or criticized for—and then look for the gift hiding under it.
When I did the exercise, I remembered something a colleague said to me in grad school, “It’s not that you lack intelligence. It’s just that you’re not serious enough.” At the time, I felt criticized and hurt. I ranted in my head: “What did she mean by not serious enough. I’ll show her. I can be just as serious as the rest of them.” But I couldn’t. No matter how hard I tried, I could not hide or lose my sense of humor.
Perhaps that classmate was offering constructive criticism, but now I hear it as a sign: You are playful. You are funny. Keep that at the heart of your work. When I’m stuck with writing, I can always write forward by using my secret super power: my sense of humor.
Writers, take a second look at the criticisms you have received. Make a list of those eccentricities that your friends and family complain about. Then dig a bit deeper to find your genius—or secret superpower—lurking inside those eccentricities. Once you know your secret superpowers, you can use them to overcome writer’s block and finish that writing project!
Pro Tip: For more tools to help you discover your superpowers and design a writing life that works for YOU, take the Plot Your Write Life Challenge.
