I will suggest you are smart enough to be here and smart enough, even wise enough, to face fears with the rest of us.

That said, knowledge IS power.

Power alone is riddled with vulnerabilities and requires dependence upon other people which prevents us from being as self-sufficient as we might otherwise be.

Knowledge allows us to learn how to learn and figure out how to get what we need, and utilize those who can manipulate power.

Example: I can read all day, but have zero math skills plus learning disabilities and a hearing problem. When doctors left me high and dry after losing insurance and a good job because I was extremely ill with cancer, exercising power alone was not an option. I learned about what was wrong with me, what doctors do for themselves given the same diagnosis (and was shocked!) and studied every other type of medicine I could find, but most important I learned how to "manage up" in order to get doctors to do tests they considered unnecessary. That first round of doctors said I had 8-10 years which means I should be six feet under now. I don't know chemistry and have absolutely no medical training. But I figured doctors learned a lot of what they know by reading and asking questions and networking with people who knew what they didn't. I could do that much. So I did. Tested negative three years running now :.) I win. Therein lies a power that could not exist without knowledge to pursue it.

It helps to be really stubborn.