Those Invisible Shackles

We all have those invisible shackles.

Some people break them early and live life on their own terms.

Some try, give up and carry them till they die.

Some are not even aware that they exist.

When elephants are young, they are shackled.

Initially, they try to break it.

After a few unsuccessful trials, they start believing that it can never be broken.

Once that limiting belief system sets in, even if they are tied with a thin rope, they will never be able to break it.

Not because they can’t but because they stop trying.

The only factor detrimental to their freedom is their limiting belief.

We all carry those; at times, we make efforts to break them.

Sometimes we give it up.

We start believing that we are like what we have always been.

We make peace with ourselves and the situations.

The irony is that in that pursuit of make-belief peace, life becomes even worse.

When we were children, and our identities were yet to form, we did not have those shackles.

We were unbound, free.

We did things on our terms.

We had fun.

As we grew old, we were conditioned by others and the environment.

Parents, Teachers, Society, Work.

The books we read, the music we listened to, the movie we watched, and the friends we hung around.

Our identities are created by references that are drawn by others mostly.

So, do not always believe what you think about yourself today.

It may not be you true; it may your conditioning making you
think that way.

The greatest victory is in breaking those shackles one at a time.

Not to prove it to the world, but to reclaim our own true self.