🦸🏽‍♀️ Your origin story is your superpower

What's in this issue:

• Why your origin story doesn't have to define you (but it can empower you) 

• What superheroes teach us about pushing through when giving up feels easier 

• The heroic daily tasks hiding in your ordinary life

The real talk:Every hero has a choice about how their story shapes them - and so do you.

Hey ,

I recently watched the new Superman movie, and honestly? It completely shifted how I see this superhero I've struggled to connect with for years.

Growing up, Superman always felt too perfect to me - handsome, all-powerful, with his super strength, flying, laser eyes, x-ray vision (seriously, the list goes on!). Unlike other heroes who felt like they were constantly putting their lives on the line, Superman seemed invincible (yes, there’s kryptonite, but who casually has that around besides Lex?)

But this new film showed me something different: Superman questioning his identity, wrestling with who he wants to be, putting that very identity on the line to become the type of hero he believes in. For the first time, I saw the human side of someone I'd always viewed as the embodiment of perfectionism.

And that got me thinking about something we all have in common with Superman: we get to choose how our origin story shapes us.

Choosing Your Heroic Identity

Every superhero faces moments where giving up would be easier, where their origin story could become their limitation instead of their strength. Here's what we can learn from their approach:

• Own your narrative: Superheroes often grapple with difficult moments from their past, but instead of letting those define them, they choose to lean into the values and lessons that serve their mission. Your origin story - with all its ups and downs - doesn't have to dictate your future. You get to decide which parts empower you and which parts you leave behind.

• Show up consistently, especially after you've lost: Superheroes don't win every battle, pero they keep showing up anyway. They don't lose hope even when things look impossible. This consistency - this refusal to give up on doing good - that's where real power lives. And truthfully, that is HARD. We don't need to be like that always, but we can practice it in small ways.

• Invest in your daily training: Every hero has their version of the daily grind that prepares them for bigger challenges. Maybe that's physical conditioning, studying their craft, or building mental resilience through meditation. What does your version look like? These small, consistent practices aren't glamorous, but they're building your foundation for when life gets intense.

• Call in your squad: Rarely do superheroes triumph alone, especially when situations get dire. They have their team (or squad, or league 😉). Who makes up your support system? Who are you calling on when you can't be everywhere at once? Heroism is a team sport.

• Give yourself permission to rest: Here's something we don't always see from superheroes but that's absolutely necessary - the courage to rest. You can't save the world if you're burned out. Taking breaks isn't giving up; it's strategic recovery.

Recuerda: Your origin story is your superpower when you choose how it shapes you instead of letting it happen to you.

Watching Superman grapple with his identity hit differently than I expected, especially because it made me reflect on my own relationship with perfectionism and origin stories.

For a long time, I was ashamed of my background. It stemmed from that immigrant mindset of wanting to fit in and belong at all costs - ya sabes, that pressure to assimilate so completely that you lose yourself in the process. I thought my story of growing up translating documents, navigating systems my parents didn't understand, being the first in my family to do so many things - I thought that made me different in ways that would hold me back.

But just like Superman in this film, I had a choice about how to let that story shape me.

When I finally chose to reject that "comfortability" of hiding my background, I saw how rich and beautiful my culture actually was. I saw the opportunity to bring my heritage into spaces it had never been before, to pave paths for others who looked like me. I realized that all those odds stacked against me had actually built incredible values and skills that carried me to moments of success.

That choice wasn't always easy though. When I got my first job offer at Google, they asked me to move to the Bay Area. I had no family there, some friends, and honestly no idea what I was going to do. My parents weren't thrilled - especially my dad, because "women have so much more to lose" (love him dearly, but still working through some old school machismo mindsets).

The "easy" choice was to stay home in Chicago, apply to other companies, and get hired somewhere, so I could live at home. That was my parents' dream for me.

Instead, I left. And it was hard - sleeping on a mattress on the floor, meeting up with strangers to vet them as potential roommates, dealing with an almost 2-hour commute each way, feeling incredibly alone. But you know what? I have zero regrets. That chapter taught me so much about myself and remains one of the periods I hold most dear.

That's the thing about choosing your heroic path - it's rarely the comfortable option. But it's often the one that reveals who you're capable of becoming.

These days, my "heroic daily tasks" look pretty ordinary from the outside. I'm working on investing in myself through small, consistent actions: drinking enough water, doing my PT exercises daily, going to bed early so I can have slow mornings, making time to journal and write, spending at least 15 uninterrupted minutes with my dogs each day (honestly, they deserve way more).

And when I can't handle everything alone? I call in my squad. Just this week, I've been leaning on my brother and mom to help our family Chihuahua get the dental care he needs because I can't make the appointment times myself. Asking for help used to feel like failure, but now I see it as what heroes actually do - they work with their team.

I think about this especially as our community continues to face challenging times. We get to decide how our origin stories empower us rather than limit us. We get to choose whether the struggles that shaped us become sources of strength or sources of shame.

That's not perfection - that's power. And it's available to all of us, cape not required.

_{¿Qué dijo? / What did she say?}
pero - but
Recuerda - remember
ya sabes - you know