When I talk about taking an off-ramp -- from a group, a relationship, an ideology, a way of living, a way of doing anything -- I'm really talking about retrieving yourself and retrieving your power.

In this time of end-stage capitalism, an out of control attention economy, and the burden of multiple, abusive "hierarchies of human worth," it seems that everything wants to control our time, our attention, our thoughts, our emotions, our empathy, and our lives.

Well, sorry neither. Because each of these things belongs to us. And none of them are for sale when we reclaim our own power.

Power is being used in often ugly ways right now, but that has nothing to do with power as a concept. Power is the ability to make change, determine our lives, and choose our responses.

Even in a prison-like situation of an abusive relationship, ...