How to Empower Yourself When You Feel Powerless and Helpless

Lately, you’ve been feeling powerless and helpless. Maybe you’ve experienced a devastating loss. Maybe you’re going through a difficult situation, and you feel stuck. Maybe there’s always been an undercurrent of I just can’t do this. I can’t change my circumstances. This is just how it is (and maybe always will be).
Thankfully, just because you feel powerless and helpless doesn’t mean you actually are. This happens because when we get scared, we get tunnel vision, said New York City psychologist Lauren Appio, Ph.D. And it becomes “hard for us to take a step back and review our options because in this state of mind, we don’t feel we have any.”
Or, if we start considering options, we zero in on the potential threats, she said. We fear we’ll make the wrong decision, and feel deep regret.
Sometimes, people feel powerless and helpless because they’ve been regularly invalidated or treated as incompetent—and “it can be incredibly challenging to know how much power and influence you actually have in your life.”
While therapy is one of the best ways to work through these kinds of issues, especially if they’ve been going on for years, there are also actionable, relatively small steps you can take. Below, therapists shared their expert tips.
Identify your strengths and skills. Everyone has different natural talents and abilities they’ve honed throughout the years. To discover your’s, Appio suggested examining the times you’ve felt empowered and eff...

Source: World of Psychology - September 14, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. Tags: General Mental Health and Wellness Motivation and Inspiration Relationships Self-Help Stress Empowerment Helplessness Source Type: blogs