The Momentum of Empowerment

What makes you feel empowered? I derive empowerment from the ocean. When I am on my board carving left down the face of a wave while my paddle is thrusting forward at just the right speed—that’s when I feel most empowered. It is at the exact moment that the connection of my paddling launches me into the sweet spot of the wave—when I actually catch the wave—and for a moment I am flying. I am weightless. I am no longer on the wave, I am the wave. I am empowered!

It wasn’t always like this. For most of my adult life, I was afraid of the ocean. It wasn’t until my children began to take up surfing that I thought, “How can I sit here and tell them to go in, when I won’t?” I was 40 years of age when I started to go out on a paddle board, and I was 42 years old when I paddled into my very first wave. Interestingly, my life has changed tremendously since that first wave caught on a N.J. beach that 2012 summer! That empowerment spilled over into my relationships, my work and other aspects of my life. I was a new empowered Kelly! And once I was empowered by one thing, it was easy to become empowered through other activities. I am empowered when I grow vegetables in my garden; I am even empowered when I take my garden’s failures and place them in a compost bin.

So, what about you? Have you stopped to think about what makes you feel empowered? For many, empowerment is about trying new things. So, in this issue we share with you some of our favorite new things, from an organic deodorant to amazing beach reads. Natural Favorites is shore (pun intended) to leave you with fun empowerment tools. How about experiences? They are in here, too. We are midway through summer and have you been to visit any of the advertisers that help make Natural Awakenings Long Island (NALI) possible? LB Wake & Watersports offers so much fun on the water, with jet skis, paddle boards and wake surf boats. There is something there to guarantee an empowering adventure for everyone.

I also believe that doing for others is incredibly empowering. There are numerous random acts of kindness that you can participate in, from paying for a cup of coffee for a stranger to picking garbage off the beach to donating harvested crops to a local soup kitchen. Any of these acts will provide you with a feeling of empowerment!

Is fear of failure keeping you from embarking on an empowering journey? Then let me state this emphatically: You can also be empowered by your failures. They are lessons, and lessons empower us! I have “bitten it” on more than one wave, and, while humbling, even the wipe outs are empowering because they offer an opportunity to get back up again!

NALI’s August issue is entirely focused on your empowerment! Read it, be empowered by it, and, hey, maybe even reach out to us with a photo and your own empowerment story—#NaturallyEmpowered. So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and be the most empowered version of yourself!