Borrowed Power

I recently came across this phrase whilst reading a book and it gave meaning to something I have observed all my life; something that seems to be on the rise with social media.

Borrowed power is about trying to appear to be what you are not, deceiving yourself and others alike. It makes a person project an assumed image that is false. It makes people to take actions beyond their means and abilities which can get many into trouble.

There are documentaries about scammers who built their entire lives on lies and false images projecting power they do not have not caring about the impact of their actions on others. There was the story of the young lady who said she had come up with an innovation that would enable full diagnostics to be done using a few drops of blood.

She was billed as the next best thing since sliced bread, made it to the front cover of magazines and was headlines in many news channels only for the bubble to burst on her ‘billion dollar’ empire. Everything was built on a lie and borrowed power.

Another young girl claimed to have recovered from cancer through what she termed as ‘clean eating’, sold a lie to millions of people about how she healed herself of terminal cancer. She also made headlines and lapped up the attention from the media all the while jeopardising the lives of those who believed her lies and fell under the influence of her borrowed power.

She wanted to appear a certain way to others and to make this happen, she had to project an image that wasn’t hers and borrow power that she didn’t have.

Social media has birthed thousands of people who live on borrowed powers, lies and sometimes stolen money. There was a story of another young man who scammed multiple women while living a ‘larger than life’ life. All the ladies bought the image he sold them when nothing about him was real. He lived his entire life on stolen wealth and borrowed power.

Many on social media talk about businesses that make them thousands of dollars per day without them lifting a finger and to perpetuate this myth, they have to project a success they don’t yet have and power that doesn’t belong to them.

On a trip back to Nigeria, I was startled by some noise in front of my apartment so I peered through the curtains to see what was going on. I saw some young people taking pictures of themselves against the house and posting them online. Their friends and far admirers will all like images that are built on a lie.

All I could do was smile at the irony of it all as I went back to my chores. As the owner of the house, I never felt the need to take pictures of myself against the background to send to others. It served no purpose.

I see this projected in other ways with people spending money they don’t have because they have a compelling need to show others they have arrived or wanting to build a bigger house than someone else because they refuse to be outdone by a neighbour, friend or old classmate.

Some people fall on hard times but want people to continue to believe nothing has changed; obviously this means they are willing to set themselves up for even harder times or dig deeper holes than they are already in.

The truly and most successful people know that successes and failures can be cyclical in nature, they would have failed in some ventures but kept going. They would have acknowledged their struggles, and made the changes that helped them to get back on track and start the process of rebuilding.

We see their successes today because they did what they had to do to get up from failures and this would not have included actions that worsened their positions.

When you project an image that isn’t a true reflection of your realities and you try to convince others to believe something you are not, you are living on borrowed power. If you find yourself wanting to own a car that you can’t afford simply because someone else now owns one, you are about to step into ‘borrowed power’ territory. If your next birthday plans are being designed to be bigger and better than someone else’s, you may be on thin ice.

Sadly too many in all cultures focus more on the perception of others than on their own true circumstances or what they even want. This is a travesty and an injustice to yourself because when you project any image that’s not you, you deny who you really are and forget to be grateful for what you already have.

The people we are trying to impress don’t make us a priority because they have their own priorities to focus on. Even if we succeed in impressing them by throwing the most lavish party, being the most popular or whatever else it is, they will soon forget the details. In no time at all, they will barely have us on their radars whilst we continue to bear the burden of our choices long after.

In this new year, I hope authenticity becomes a key word for us. It’s about loving yourself and realising you are already and always enough. Whatever you think is missing now is not a deal breaker. Use and leverage what you have now.

You don’t need to build your life on lies or borrowed power. Work diligently to build the life that you want but through the stages of building your life, remain true to yourself and the life you are willing to work for will become your ‘authentic’ reality.

Thanks for reading and sharing my post. Have a great week.