I’ve had a couple of challenging weeks. One day this week, I was out for a walk and I realized that I felt like a victim of life. I felt like a bunch of bad things were happening to me that I didn’t seem to have any control over.

Later, I was talking with one of my support people and she pointed out that it seemed like I needed to do some things that would make me feel like a grown, bad-ass woman – actions that would make me feel in control, empowered and independent.

So, I started making a list in my head of things I could do that would make me feel empowered. Some of them were easy, some hard. Some of the hard actions became easier when I saw them as a way to feel stronger.

Here are some actions from my list: Going for a 20 minute run without stopping, making a killer dinner, dressing up and going to the theater or a concert, cleaning the whole house in one day, asking a potential new friend out, finishing a long forgotten project, paying my bills, folding my...