The Quiet Authority of Self: How True Power Finds You

There is a kind of power that is easily recognized: the kind that dictates, takes, enforces. It moves through the world with a heavy hand, mistaking control for security, dominance for stability. It thrives on possession—of people, of influence, of outcomes. It is the power we are told to chase, though few of us question why.

And then, there is another kind of power. The kind that does not demand, does not conquer, does not seek proof of itself. It does not need to be seen in order to exist. It does not require permission or validation. It is not power over but power within.

It is the power of the person who knows they are already enough.

For much of my life, I feared power. I had seen what it could do, how it could warp and twist, how it could turn ordinary people into something unrecognizable. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. This was the belief I was given. And so, I stayed small, mistaking avoidance for virtue, mistaking compliance for safety.

I have since learned that power is not inherently dangerous. But the hunger for it—the desperate grasping, the belief that to have it means to take it from someone else—that is where destruction begins.

Power in its external form is fickle. It can be granted or revoked, given or stripped away. It can be bought, fought for, or stolen. It moves through hands like currency, and for those who depend on it, the need for more is never satisfied.

But true power—the kind that is lived, not wielded—is untouchable. It does not rise and fall based on titles or influence. It does not shift with public opinion. It is the quiet, unwavering knowledge that you are the authority of your own life.

This kind of power does not control others. It does not seek to manipulate outcomes. It does not beg to be recognized. It simply is.

David Whyte wrote, “What you can plan is too small for you to live. What you can live wholeheartedly will make enough plans.”

True power does not come from controlling life—it comes from living it fully.

The question is not whether you will have power, but what kind of power you will choose. Will it be the kind that hoards, protects, and diminishes? Or the kind that radiates, empowers, and expands?

The first will always leave you hungry. The second will make you whole.