Broken shackles

by maximusaurus

The most dangerous limitations are the ones we set for ourselves.

We tend to trust ourselves more than we trust others, so we’re more inclined to accept self-imposed shackles than those thrust on us by others. Often, we do it to shield ourselves from disappointment.

Throughout my life, I told myself I couldn’t do things.

At 15, I told myself I would never be able to move away from home, because just going on a 5-day school camp was an incredibly stressful ordeal.

When I was 18, I told myself I would never be able to go to University, because my High School scores weren’t that crash hot, and moving to the city by myself seemed insurmountably terrifying.

When I was 22, I told myself that because I’d never had a girlfriend, I never would, and I’d be doomed to a life of lonely celibacy, unwanted and unloved, because I simply wasn’t good enough to be boyfriend material.

Today, I live 5 hours drive away from my parents, and I haven’t lived with them permanently for 6 years.

I’ve completed a Bachelor degree in sociology and a Postgrad in journalism.

And at 23, I met a kind, funny, beautiful and brilliant woman who, for 19 wonderful months, was my girlfriend.

As I look behind me at this trail of broken shackles, I have learned my lesson.