I Don’t Have Potential. I am Potential in Action.

This poem is dedicated to the multi-capable and multi-passionate young women who are growing up in a world that wants

to define, use, capitalize, and shape their worth

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As a young woman, I took it as a compliment when someone said I had potential.

It was usually bestowed upon me by someone “above” me - a boss, a teacher, a mentor.

They usually meant I had the ability to accomplish something great for others.

As a woman, I am done with “having potential.”

"Potential in Action" Watercolor by Jackie Schuld

I do not want to be relegated to the future, better version of myself that someone else imagines for me.

I am the person in the present, living in my power.

I am potential in action.

I don’t want someone else’s vision of my potential. I don’t want to live by what they think is admirable.

I measure my own worth. If there is a yardstick to be used, I will craft it myself.

I do not want to be relegated to the imaginary place in someone’s head. I will not demean myself to a living ghost. Never fully seen. Never fully good enough.

If I give the bestowers of “potential” no mind, no credence, then I strip them of their power.

I claim my present. For I am potential in action.