What is personal empowerment?
Personal empowerment refers to the process of gaining the knowledge, skills, and confidence to take control of one's life, make informed choices, and achieve one's goals. It involves recognizing and asserting one's own rights, needs, and desires while also respecting the rights and boundaries of others. Personal empowerment is about feeling in control of your own destiny and being able to overcome obstacles and challenges.
Key elements of personal empowerment include:
Self-awareness: Understanding your strengths, weaknesses, values, and beliefs is essential for personal empowerment. Self-awareness allows you to make choices that align with your authentic self.
Self-confidence: Believing in your abilities and having a positive self-image is crucial for empowerment. Confidence enables you to take on challenges and pursue your goals with determination.
Self-esteem: A healthy self-esteem is linked to a sense of self-worth and self-respect. It's important for setting and maintaining boundaries and making choices that serve your well-being.
Self-determination: Empowerment involves the ability to make independent decisions and take responsibility for your actions. It means not being overly influenced or controlled by external factors or the opinions of others.
Knowledge and skills: Gaining knowledge and developing skills in various areas of life, such as education, career, communication, and problem-solving, can enhance your ability to make informed choices and achieve your goals.
Resilience: Empowerment also includes the capacity to bounce back from setbacks and adversity. Resilience helps you face challenges and obstacles with a sense of determination and adaptability.
Assertiveness: Being able to express your thoughts, needs, and feelings assertively and respectfully is a key aspect of personal empowerment. It involves standing up for yourself and advocating for what you believe in without being passive or aggressive.
Goal setting: Setting clear and achievable goals allows you to have a sense of purpose and direction in life. Working toward these goals can provide a sense of accomplishment and empowerment.
Personal empowerment can be applied to various aspects of life, including relationships, careers, personal development, and community involvement. It is a continuous process that involves self-reflection, self-improvement, and the development of the skills and mindset necessary to lead a fulfilling and empowered life.
There are times we all doubt ourselves. There are moments when our self-esteem may swing from thinking we are great and above average to thinking we are not good enough or even a complete failure. This is a normal part of the human experience. However, if we live in a near-constant state of feeling not enough, like everyone else’s needs are more important, or like every move we make is a mistake, it can cause us to live a greatly limited life. We don’t need grandiose delusions or to think we are the most important person in the world, but we do need to be able to see our own self-worth and what we are truly capable of accomplishing.
Even small moments of self-doubt can cause trouble if we let them rule how we live our lives.
The goal of personal empowerment is to learn how to realistically see your great potential and to make the best use of your power. This requires learning the skills needed to change how you relate to yourself and others so that you are not easily disempowered. I work with my clients to master these skills. Then, I help them figure out how to best channel this newfound empowerment into obtainable goals.
Learn how to …
Realize your own self-worth
Be a caring person without sacrificing yourself
Set healthy boundaries and express your needs
Find your authentic self
Creating worthwhile goals with manageable, realistic steps
One thing you can do right now for personal empowerment is to set healthy boundaries.
Setting boundaries can be really scary when you’re not used to it. But it is simple when you know how the process of setting boundaries works.
#1: Be Clear
First of all, it’s important to be very clear with the other person when you’re setting a boundary.
When you’re vague or make them guess, it can be very confusing for them. So, in order to save them the trouble of trying to guess what you mean, just be clear to begin with.
For instance, imagine if your hubby asked you to hang out on Friday because his sister and cousin are coming to town, but you really don’t want to. It’s your only night off and you were looking forward to time with yourself! Instead of saying, “I might go, not sure…” you could just make it clear from the get-go, “I can’t, but thanks for the invite!” Isn’t that so much nicer than leading them on, and having them wonder if you’ll join them or not?
Also, be assertive! Saying clearly and directly what you want is a simple way to make sure you’re both understood and respected. Just because he's your husband doesn't mean you can't say no. Nine times out of ten he has probably ghosted you by saying he has to work late. But as women, we don't think anything of it. We may be upset but we get it and eventually move on without his presence. Although his tactics suck. He did what was best for him without hurting your feelings. Show yourself the same respect.
So, don’t make them guess. It’s not nice. Be clear and assertive!
#2: Remember, It’s Self-Care
One thing that helps me a lot is to remind myself that boundaries are a way to take care of myself.
When you focus on how “mean” a boundary feels, you just make yourself feel worse.
Instead, focus on how loving you’re being to yourself!
You're finally putting your own needs first.
For instance, you’re planning to do your weekly groceries tomorrow night and your sister asks you to watch her kids go out on a date at the same time. Isn’t it loving to yourself to follow through with your plans to take care of your needs by honoring youplans to go grocery shopping? In my opinion, yes it is! Maybe you can help your sister at a time that works better for you. Win-win for everyone. Can she push her date up an hour?
So, keep your focus on the fact that boundaries are an act of self-love. You can't keep abandoning your needs or dropping your plans to please others.
#3: Focus on Feelings + Needs
Another tactic for setting boundaries without being rude is to verbalize your feelings. Let the other person know how you feel and what you need.
If we take our example from above, maybe your sister keeps pressing you to keep her kids on Friday and asks why you aren’t available. You could respond, “I’m feeling burnt out with work this week. I need time alone at the end of the week to recharge my batteries.”
Then, you’ve clearly stated what you need and how you feel. And it makes it a lot more difficult for your sister to keep pushing.
However, it’s possible she might. And guess what? She might not be the greatest sister if she can’t understand that you’re simply meeting your own needs by turning down her request.
Perhaps you need to hold a family meeting and talk about this unhealthy habit of her exploiting your kindness. Maybe she can ask her friends or someone else to help her out and see if she shows them the same disrespect. Trust others will assert themselves just as you are learning to do.
When you keep the focus on your needs and feelings, it makes it easier to set boundaries without looking rude or feeling guilty.
#4: Practice Simplicity
As a recovering people pleaser, I know firsthand how easy it can be to give 1,000 explanations for saying no.
Sometimes, that gets me in trouble and I end up getting talked into saying yes. Especially if it's a request from one of my kids or hubby. Sigh. I hate when I let that happen.
What works for me is to practice simply saying, “No thanks!” without any explanation. When you do that, most of the time people back off.
When they keep pressing, you can smile and say it again. Eventually, they get the hint. Give it a try!
But also watch out for your triggers. My husband tends to use client treatment when he doesn't get his way. This is a big trigger for me as I hate it when I think someone is mad or disappointed with me.
Keeping it simple with a little, “No thanks!” is an easy way to set a kind boundary, tone of voice and nonverbal communication play a big part. Try smiling while saying no. It's less defensiveness.
#5: Speak Neutrally
Finally, when it comes to setting boundaries with looking rude, try not to get defensive or angry.
When you can speak in a neutral tone of voice, it helps keep the conversation neutral as well.
But when you start raising your voice or get defensive, it brings a different tone to the conversation. Then, it can feel like conflict as I mention above. And you might even start feeling mean, which is the opposite of what we want. We want to express ourselves with love and compassion even when saying no or "Hell No!"
So, try to keep your tone of voice nice and neutral to set that boundary with as much kindness as possible.
Conclusion
I know firsthand that setting boundaries can feel mean, but it doesn’t have to! I hope these tips will help you set them with kindness as you learn how to empower yourself and heal from emotional wounds.
If you are ready to learn more ways to empower yourself, Contact us today for a Clarity Session.
Help Developing A Plan For Self-Care
Do you want help developing a self-care plan that works for your own busy schedule? Do you want accountability in implementing a self-care plan? If you or someone you love is struggling to maintain optimal mental and emotional health, consider reaching out to Spiced Life Conversation Art Wellness Studio and Botanica. We are a Metro Atlanta, Conyers Georgia area. We are a coaching and counseling practice with empathetic, skilled counselors and recovery coaches who can help you set goals, develop a self-care routine, and move forward to build a more fulfilling life. Our team would be happy to work with you either just for a couple of sessions to develop and implement a Self-care plan or longer term to work toward overall better mental health within our membership site or other programs.
About The Author:
Dr. Nikki LeToya White MSEd-TL, Ph.D. RHN is the founder, director, and full-time board-certified trauma-informed nutritionist, folk herbalist, and wellness consultant at Spiced Life Conversation Art Wellness Studio and Botanica. She created Spiced Life Conversation, LLC
Art Wellness Studio and Botanica provide the Metro Atlanta area with counseling and coaching services where clients are carefully matched with the right program for healing abandonment and childhood emotional neglect trauma that cause codependency, emotional eating, financial stress, and imposter syndrome as it relates to fear of success and being abandon. We help you begin your emotional healing journey with ease. Recently, we have expanded to include an online membership site so we now provide support to people living all over the world. All of our recovery coaches provide at least one evidence-based treatment to assist in your recovery. Dr. White is a big proponent of self-care and helping people live a fulfilling life! She has been in full remission with both codependency and emotional binge eating disorder since 2016. In living a life in recovery from sugar addiction. Loving her low-sugar balance lifestyle.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Nikki LeToya White
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