This is a great story and really speaks to how we limit our beliefs to fit into the narrative of 'stuck.' I really liked how you framed it .... "Eight Words." And those eight words can change everything. Well-done!
I was a forty-year-old single mom with a high-stress job that was stealing my health. I had no family left, no parents, no grandparents. It was all up to me. Then I met a man in a parking lot. We began dating. He wanted to move to Montana, of all places (I had rarely traveled outside of California by this time). He asked me to marry him and move to Montana. "I can't do that," I thought. I talked to a friend, and she said, "Why can't you do that?" I realized I had a choice. I took it. We will have been married for thirty-two years in June, and it was the best decision I ever made.
That's the gist of it, and there ARE times we feel trapped. I am glad you had ears to hear the wisdom and courage to take the step. Now, whenever I feel trapped, I go for a walk and am thankful to have agency. The poem ended with:
I shall be free and ne'er be caged again!
It's a choice... Even if it takes time and a change in our perspective.
This is a great story and really speaks to how we limit our beliefs to fit into the narrative of 'stuck.' I really liked how you framed it .... "Eight Words." And those eight words can change everything. Well-done!
I was a forty-year-old single mom with a high-stress job that was stealing my health. I had no family left, no parents, no grandparents. It was all up to me. Then I met a man in a parking lot. We began dating. He wanted to move to Montana, of all places (I had rarely traveled outside of California by this time). He asked me to marry him and move to Montana. "I can't do that," I thought. I talked to a friend, and she said, "Why can't you do that?" I realized I had a choice. I took it. We will have been married for thirty-two years in June, and it was the best decision I ever made.
I wrote a poem when I was in 10th grade:
Trapped with no way out,
four walls surround and cage me;
strict rulers keep me in- I dare not disobey.
And yet the sun is calling.
The grass is always calling, calling.
Telling me they're free- saying I could be.
That's the gist of it, and there ARE times we feel trapped. I am glad you had ears to hear the wisdom and courage to take the step. Now, whenever I feel trapped, I go for a walk and am thankful to have agency. The poem ended with:
I shall be free and ne'er be caged again!
It's a choice... Even if it takes time and a change in our perspective.