#WriteWithMe Reflection: Week 3

Throughout this week, I was taking some time away from the grind with my family. This made it interesting to try and schedule in writing time, but it also gave me an opportunity to reflect a little differently.

Batman is Bruce Wayne. I know, spoiler alert right?

Anyway, lil Batman has a problem. Like most superheroes, Batman often does things that he thinks are helpful, but really aren’t. Batman “serves” Gotham city as the hero, from a place of anguish and pain. He does it by himself, without a community or support. And in real life, Batman is burned out and probably has PTSD too. That drive and compulsion to “protect” a city from itself is cool and all, but he does it at the expense of himself and everyone around him. He is lonely and self-absorbed.

My kid loves to watch Lego Superhero movies, and Lego Batman is one he enjoys quite a lot. If you’ve never seen it, you should. It is cute, funny, and annoying all at once.

And it drives home the point, without being overbearing, that Batman is not actually a hero until he connects with his humanity and stops doing things out there on his own. When Batman puts down the façade and lets the people who care about him help, and he acts with integrity, that’s when he steps into his actual hero power.

This one resonates with me, and for those of you who know me this is probably not a surprise to you. It probably also shouldn’t surprise you that this week we were following prompts to write about the superhero version of ourselves. Which is fitting really because last week I participated in a conference, the highlight of which, for me anyway, was sharing space with other survivors. Leading the way through laying down our capes and appreciating each other, being genuine, and supporting each other. It was powerful, and it is still sitting deeply with me because not only did we really hold that space for ourselves, but we did that through the whole conference. Each one of us shining on our own, really becoming intensely bright and mighty when we came together.

One of the things #WriteWithMe is allowing me to do is to process through these things and really reflect from another perspective.

My superhero self is not Batman, but I have operated like it was.

My superhero self… is me.