Mind Wandering

What Superhero Are You?

Up, Up, and Away!

Alexandru Teodorovici
3 min readAug 9, 2022
Photo by Cristi Ursea on Unsplash

That’s what you would probably say if you were Superman or some other superhuman that was able to defy the laws of gravity on Earth and fly. But, come, on, don’t tell me that you’ve never thought of having superpowers before, cause I know you’re lying.

With all the superhero movies that have been playing in the last 10+ years, I think it is hard not to imagine yourself as Thor, Flash, or Superman. That might be less true when it comes to envisioning yourself as the Hulk. Still, I might be wrong.

The discussion, however, is not about having superpowers, it is about being a superhero. What do you do with those powers? Do you keep them for yourself, hide them from society, and use them for your own personal interest, or do you share them with the world and try to help people?

I don’t believe there’s a right or wrong answer. If you choose to keep your power(s) to yourself, then all the power to you, as they say. Your body, your property.

The truth is, it is hard enough to put yourself out there as a regular human being. People can be harsh, judgemental, cold, dismissive, provocative, and darn right mean. It might be the conservative and defensive instinct that’s part of all of us(or most), but that doesn’t make life any easier when you’re trying to put yourself out there.

It requires a lot of dedication, patience, self-control, and a huge heart. Maybe some “I don’t give a f*ck” once in a while.

Now, imagine yourself with superpowers and getting into people’s lives to help and save them. To be a beacon of hope, fairness, equality, and all the other good stuff. I don’t think it is as easy as some movies make it to be, but I do think that the inner reward you get and feel could be amazing.

Then, there’s the other side of the story. What is your superpower? Is it something life-changing like super strength, flight, telekinesis, teleportation, super speed, mind reading, invulnerability? Or, is it something that’s more second-hand, like being able to change the color of your hair, eat really fast, sleep with your head down? Honestly, I am having a difficult time thinking of useless superpowers.

It is probably a matter of perspective and needs. What might be useful to me, might be the opposite for you. It is just the way it is with some things in life.

Thinking about having superpowers is a lot like daydreaming, but actually having them might be a different cup of tea. Of course, I don’t have any, so all I am doing is speculating. If we are to think of it differently, I would see it as setting the mindset. Who knows what humans will be capable of or to which new heights they will evolve in a few hundreds or thousands of years.

I mean, look at it, we got out of caves without any lack of understanding of the world, and we are now writing on a blog in a virtual environment that was created from pure nothing. The sheer number of ideas, actions, and actual human evolution to reach this point is mindboggling.

I think we can leave all that to the imagination for the time being. In the real world, we don’t have superpowers, but that doesn’t mean we are powerless, and it certainly doesn’t mean we can’t be superheroes.

Making life and the world better should be part of our DNA. When you do that, others besides yourself can benefit from it. Changing the world, even in the smallest, tiniest way, truly requires a super human will, effort, and power. Being a hero is hard, unimaginably hard, and requires a lot of commitment and dedication. So what is the superpower you think you need or want to be able to be a real-life superhero and not a comic one?

Maybe some courage? And, as always, a little bit of hope

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