Power Is a State of Mind

This morning, like many others lately, is filled with uncertainty.

And I worry.

I once heard in The Secret that “each new day holds something good for us — we just have to find it.” The idea is simple: if we hold a clear image of success in our minds and remain faithful to it, that image will eventually shape our actions and influence what we attract.

Some days, that feels naïve.

Other days, it feels necessary.

I sit in front of my monitor and log into Facebook. A Masterclass ad featuring Shonda Rhimes appears on my screen.

Interesting.

Facebook has an uncanny way of confronting me just when I am about to give up. The image of success I once created for myself resurfaces. I click the ad. Escaping my present reality for a moment cannot hurt.

In my small studio, wrapped in the scent of Folgers coffee, I begin thinking about my connection to Shonda — It is Olivia Pope from Scandal.

Since 2013, Pope has lingered in my thoughts.

I am usually careful about whom I admire, but with her, I became almost devotional. I arranged my apartment in soft neutrals like her condo. I bought oversized wine glasses and held them the way she did.

“Scandal time” became “me time.”

Every episode revived the image I had once built in my mind — untouched by my present struggles. Watching her move through elite spaces, command rooms, and solve impossible crises, I realize something essential:

Options exist.

Olivia Pope never ran out of options.

She was flawed, complicated, and emotionally vulnerable — yet formidable. An educated, stylish, strategic Black woman navigating corridors of power rarely accessible to women like me.

African women in the diaspora.

So to believe that every problem can be handled is transformative. And as I feel overwhelmed by stalled dreams, I begin to think that perhaps I, too, am not out of options.

When I first wrote this blog in 2017, I was unemployed and buried in debt. I had left school fifteen years earlier with only an Associate degree. It was not by choice. I had tried returning several times, but each attempt ended in closed doors and quiet surrender.

As I revisit this piece, two years later, I am still carrying financial weight.

But I now hold a Bachelor’s degree in Communication.

And I am a published author.

It appears that I made a few things happen.

Not because life suddenly aligned itself.

Not because uncertainty disappeared.

But because something in me refused to remain suspended in fear.

Perhaps The Secret oversimplifies uncertainty. Perhaps visualization alone does not easily rearrange reality. But I have learned that losing sight of your image is different from losing your ability.

I discovered this: every time I did loose my image, something reminded me to reclaim it. Every time I drifted, something reminded me of my own unfinished strength.

Sometimes, that reminder came in the form of a fictional woman in a tailored suit holding a glass of red wine and declaring, “It’s handled.”

Power, I am beginning to understand, is quieter than I imagined.

It is not dominance.

It is not applause.

It is not perfection.

It is the decision to remain composed when your circumstances suggest collapse.

It is remembering that options may not be visible — but they are rarely absent.

And sometimes, reclaiming your image is less about attracting something new…

and more about becoming who you once believed you could be.

Power is simply a state of mind.

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