Feeling Powerless

And reclaiming your power

Image credit: Created in ChatGPT and Canva by Author

I have spent much of the last two months trying to understand my feelings. As I look back over the last 55 years of my adult life (I am 72), I cannot find another time when I felt so incredibly powerless. Everything seemed outside of my control.

As I thought about writing this article, I looked up the word “powerless.” The definition closest to how I have been feeling is “having no power: unable to do something or to stop something.”

For me, it began with the inauguration of Donald Trump and his slew of executive orders that impacted or could impact my life. Watching DOGE dismember the Social Security Administration scared the hell out of me. There was the fear that somehow our checks would get screwed up. That fear stemmed from the fact that my wife and I would rely heavily on them. Worse, just before DOGE began their Social Security attack, I went online to the “my Social Security” website and changed the bank for direct deposit of my wife’s check.

I felt and still feel powerless to do anything about whatever happens with Social Security. Last week, a new client called me because he is turning 65 and has been unable to get his Medicare started. He tried calling but was on hold thrice for more than two hours before the line went dead. Then he went into the local office, only to be told he…