Back in the day of the travelling circus, mgmt would buy or trade for baby elephants to train for the shows. When they were young, they'd leash the elephants with chains and pike the chains to the ground or something too heavy for the elephant to pull. Over time, the elephant started to correlate the sound of the chain with an immovable object and not pull. As the elephant grew older, the chain was all that was needed, because the elephant had given up pulling, always thinking the chain was attached to an immovable object when in reality, the only thing holding the animal back was a pike in the ground and a mental obstacle.
The sound of the chain was all that was needed.
Most of us have had the "baby elephant," experience. A lot of us are still hearing the "chains." I've told this story out-loud, not sure if I've written it. When I was in high school I was signed up to go on a college visit (I think I may have been in 10th grade). The morning of the visit, my "guidance counselor," pulled me into the office and told me that she had removed me from the tour because I "wasn't college bound." Now, being 37 I'm loaded with responses to that moment (insert huge grin), and I actually thank her now, but at the time it became a "chain," and a label and I told myself "I'm not college bound," and I settled for that.
Let's dive deeper...
We hear things as kids, good and bad, right and wrong, and they stick. They become a part of who we think we are. And then as we grow up, we hold onto it because we think it really is who we are... but its not... and that's our search.
Who am I?
I think you should think about your rules.
I think you should think about why you do what you do.
Think about what drives you...
What turns you on inside..
What really fires you up and inspires you...
What are you passionate about?
What cant you live without?
I think a lot of us get to a point where we stop daydreaming and having those important conversations.
I think a lot of us have stopped searching for our truth and true identity.
I think we're so much more than we let ourselves be.
