Who Are We Without Fear? A Discussion on Supergirl, Anxiety & Being Our True Selves

 Warning, this post contains spoilers for the last ever episode of Supergirl

After a very emotional last ever episode of Supergirl, I was left with this thought: who are we without fear? 

At the end of this episode, we find Kara embracing her true self, a self that contains both her identity as Kara and her previous secret identity as Supergirl. Kara says how she is supposed to be the strongest person on the planet but she feels that she is the weakest because she is too afraid to embrace her whole identity. After an uplifting conversation with Lena Luthor, we see Kara cast aside her glasses, the barrier that has protected her superpowered alter-ego for all of these years. She reveals her true identity with the biggest smile.

I have dealt with anxiety for so much of my life. I have tried to do the things I am anxious about regardless. But being so filled with fear does affect how I feel on a daily basis. After watching this episode of Supergirl, I felt like I had a sudden realisation. I am terrified of teaching. I have taught children and adults, each time I have been anxious beforehand. Sometimes the lesson has gone well and other times I've been left with this heavy fear. But you know what? I am a good teacher. I did well in my teaching qualification and received great feedback. Even more importantly, when I teach, I feel fulfilled, like I am using this innate ability and it makes me happy. Yet, my anxiety tells me to 'run away', the fight or flight response that is unnecessarily set off when you have an anxiety disorder. This episode of Supergirl made me think; if I were to scrape away my fear, what would I do? Who would I be? What is my true self? And part of that is being a teacher. I want to be a teacher. I was meant to teach. I fully believe that. I help my students to learn and empower them to be who they are and for me, that is one of the greatest things that I can do.

So, going forward, I am going to aim to be more like Kara, even though I am afraid, of so many things, I will look beyond the anxiety and see my true self-- Who I am, without fear.

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