Personal Growth

It’s 2:30 am and I wake up with these words ringing in my head: “If you truly want for freedom, you must be willing to kill the thing that binds you.”

The words ring clear. And loud. And true.

I’m wide awake now.

I turn on the lamp that sits on my bedside table and stare at the ceiling, half wondering if the Old Ones are planning to elaborate, and half knowing that they won’t.

I search my soul, looking for the thing that binds me. Not a person, a thing.

I find the beginnings of some answers, but it’s clear that I’m going to have to dig deep with this.

What binds you? Fear? Resentment? Addiction?

When we’re bound to toxic people and toxic relationships, we are not bound by the person. We can be bound by our fear of living without them, we can be bound by our belief that we are beholden to them, or that we are responsible for them. Even in abusive relationships, we are bound by our fear, by our lack of options, by our lack of support.

We can be bound by debt, by shame, by a lifestyle that doesn’t serve us. Guilt, grief, pride.

We must be willing to kill what binds us.