Mental Health Mondays- Thoughts On Power Intro

Hey Athenites,

Lately, I've been thinking about power. Power to choose, power to lead, power over others. I'm finding that to me, power is a very abstract thing. I can't quite pin it down. I'm not sure if it's something to want or to fear, to welcome or to push away.. The theme of power gives rise to many questions:

What is power? What does it mean to have power? To give power? To relinquish power? Is that defeat? Can power be shared? Can power be bought? If so, how? By who? Who has power an how is that decided? What are the advantages to having power? Are there any advantages to losing power? And, most relevant to this blog: how does power affect our mental health: feelings, emotions, moods? How does power affect our relationships?

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about power? For me, it's US president Barack Obama, his words echoing through a microphone out to millions of people during the State of the Union speech. "We are here to serve our people, not our ambitions." (I may be paraphrasing here.)

As a young white woman I have a lot of power in this world. Also, as a young white woman I'm rarely aware of the power that I have. I'm usually only aware of my power when I lose it. I'm a tad overwhelmed by this subject, so this is more of an introduction to themes I hope to explore in the weeks to come: Political power, sexual power, racial power, military power, personal power. I'll be examining the power of images, media, sound.

My apologies for the short post, I hope I can make it up in the weeks to come.

Micky