Power Outage: A Reflection on Human Duality

When the power outage struck Spain and Portugal,
the darkness brought chaos.

Fear.
Blame.
A scramble for answers.

When faced with uncertainty,
it’s natural to demand control,
to fear what we cannot predict.

Work deadlines loomed.
Children grew scared.
Neighbors sat by their windows,
nervously watching for signs
that everything would return to normal.

But then,
some young people gathered in the streets,
music from battery-powered speakers filling the air.
Strangers shared food.
An older woman led an impromptu dance.
Laughter rose where silence had taken hold.

This is the duality of the human experience.

Some retreat into fear.
Others expand into joy.

Some cling to the known.
Others embrace the unknown.

I’ve experienced both within myself.
My parents’ passing was
a kind of “power outage” in my soul.
The structures I depended on collapsed.

At first, I blamed the world.
I demanded answers to unanswerable questions.
I feared the emptiness.
That was my darkness.

But over time,
in the absence of answers,
something shifted.

I rediscovered connection
with myself,
with my strength,
with my higher purpose.
That was my light.

In the dark,
we remember the light
is something we carry,
something always within us.

The power outage asks
each of us:
When life unplugs you from comfort or control,
who do you become?

Do you cling to blame
or awaken to possibility?

Do you collapse into fear
or rise into creativity?

Both responses are valid.
Both are part of being human.

Next time something "unplugs" you,
whether it’s a literal power outage,
a job loss,
or a relationship ending

—pause.

Ask yourself:
Am I responding from fear or from curiosity?
Am I dimming or expanding?

The world may go dark.
But your light?

That’s always your choice.

With purpose and light,
Ryion P.
Author of Awakened Purpose
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