The Mustang Incident that Empowered Me

This is a guest-post by Soundarya Sridhar, an aerospace and aeronautical engineer.

Three years ago, I was in this place. My heart was heavy as I held my tears back, and the red-bricked building across the parking lot was becoming more and more daunting. A few minutes ago from that memory, an advisor of mine was astounded that an Industrial Engineer was accepted into the Aerospace program and pushed me to complete extra undergrad courses. For me, that meant more unplanned money and a longer time to complete the course. Having traveled across half the world to go after my dream Master's degree, this moment was pivotal to continuing my journey or giving up. My memories are still fresh, and it goes like this, I was standing next to my university’s mascot - the panther – and I was on a phone call when I looked up to see a beaming red Mustang in the Florida sun. My uncle and cousin were in it and they were waving and cheering me on already.

The red Mustang with open-air mode, loud music, familiar faces that smiled and laughed distracted me and put me at ease. The few days I spent with my uncle and cousin where they respected and trusted the decisions I had made, empowered me to believe in my identity. Building a brand is a two-way street, where the brand engages with the community and has a strong identity. Its followers empower the brand through support and commitment. It works in the same fashion for us, where the first step to empower the other can be as simple as acknowledging their strengths and keeping comments/actions positive. That one experience with my family got a whole lot of dominos tip to the direction of my Master's program completion.

Empowerment, it feels good to say it out loud. Brings in a lot of hope, a smile, and fervor to achieve. If the darkness that envelopes a cave is the enemy, the pinhole streak of light is empowerment to take the enemy on. And if more people join you in the quest of removing the rocks to have the light flood in, that is more power. So, there might be a step-by-step approach to help us empower others and in turn, be empowered.

• Listen to the story and trust the person. Rather than being a block, it feels amazing to support one's journey and extra special if it leads to success.
• Take a chance to give one. This is equivalent to investing in a relationship. And a lot of the times it carries both forward. A favorite YouTuber of mine - Stradman - was fired by his manager (the company was going bankrupt) but let him stay in his apartment for a stupid low rent. Over time, he found his niche and shared his success with the ex-manager. The two found a business together and are great friends. Giving a chance can mean sharing information, hiring, teaching, building an environment for them or contributing to their idea.
• My last one is like the latter but is focused on more selfless engagement. In other words, it's what we call Friendship. There is an equal place for respect, un-denied support, and knowledge of the other's personality and wishes. Like how the birds are unaware of how pressure distribution helps them to fly, this concoction in friendship empowers the other even when they think they do not need it.

“What we see often is only the tip of the iceberg.” is a common variant of the many similar quotes we have come across. We can either break the iceberg down or dive deeper to learn the wonders of it and help them thrive. So, wouldn’t you rather empower than hurt another. Have you experienced any “Stradman” moments yourself? Were you empowering or being empowered?