Get Powerful Now: Your Guide to Moving On

By Carol Zurita

Get Powerful Now is a woman’s guide from zero to becoming her own hero after “he” is gone.

Carol Zurita begins by sharing her personal story about a breakup that led to a deep depression. She takes readers on the journey with her through the chapters, explaining the sequence of actions she took to recover from that broken heart. Unexpectedly, the actions she took combined with a new environment drove Carol to become an inspirational mentor not only to women going through similar situations, but to anyone searching to gain confidence and find their life purpose. Get Powerful Now empowers those going through hard times to become unstoppable and unbreakable.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Apr 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781642790177

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, and the rest of the Disney princesses—whose lives all ended happily with the most charming princes in town—were the bedtime stories for my female friends and me. Our parents did not know how dangerous these tales were.

Grown girls may wait for days, months, or perhaps years for that man who is supposed to be their support, guard, refuge, provider, romantic, and forever-loyal partner called the other half. And not only that, but we believe in the happily ever after only after our prince charming arrives.

That makes us assume we are not a whole, but a half, and they are the other half we need to feel complete.

However, this belief is not forever. A bad breakup or disappointment shakes us and wakes us up from that innocent yet silly fairy tale.

Society tells us the first kiss is unforgettable and forever magical. I disagree. I understand that the chemical change that happens within the body of a teenager is unique. Every emotion is felt with greater intensity than it is in an adult’s body, so the initial feeling might be felt as sweet. But as my grandma always says, there are two sides of the coin. Here is the other side of mine: When I think of my first kiss, I become disgusted and it only gets worse.

Right after turning fifteen during the summer of 2001, I decided to spend more time with the girls who had the most male friends so I could experience what they all talked about… boys.

On most days we would be done with school by 1:15 p.m. My school was for girls only, so by the end of the morning boys from other neighboring schools with different uniforms and funny hairstyles had packed the outside of our building. To most of the female students, the fun was always on the other side of the school walls.

One sunny day while we packed our books and got ready to walk out the school’s gate, one of my girlfriends told me she had arranged for a male friend of her boyfriend’s to join us while we all walked towards the bus station to go home. Although my bus station was three minutes from the school, I sometimes made the fifteen-minute walk with them to their bus station so I could stick around and not miss the fun.

During the walk, I was naïve but curious. My hands were sweaty, and I wondered how my hair looked in the humid air. (Even in my thirties I still can’t keep my thick and long hair looking decent.) Right across the street, a pack of six boys tried to look cool and pretended to be all grown up.

The other five girls and I were walking towards them from the other side of the road. The girls kissed their boyfriends’ lips, and I noticed there was this new boy whom no one was kissing. My friend Alexandra didn’t forget the mission. She grabbed my arm, walked me towards this tanned guy, and introduced me to him.

Carol, meet my good friend, Oscar, she said. Oscar, this is Carol. She also lives in the South. She is walking with us to the bus stop.

I was confused. Should I smile much? I mean, he may think I am too easy.

Should I stay serious? But he may get scared of me…

The vibe I got from him was…okay. Not that much excitement but nothing against him either.

We had hung out for about two weeks or so when the girls told me Oscar liked me. I expected a much more handsome guy for me.

At that time, my insecurities always made decisions for me.

Was I pretty enough to get a good-looking guy? Maybe this was all I could get. That was always the internal fight.

Another school day was done, and I began the usual routine of walking with the same group towards the bus stop. Oscar grabbed my arm and tenderly pulled me closer to him. He tried to sound and look as gentlemanly as possible. He told me he liked me and asked if I would like to be his girlfriend. I did not reply with a firm yes, but instead played with words and made silly comments like, We live far away from each other, so this commitment may not work. I also said that Mom didn’t allow me to go out on the weekends like other girls’ moms.

And at the end I said that if he accepted those facts I may think about his proposition. I didn’t want to say yes but I didn’t want to