Prison Break

Most of us, thankfully, will never have to see the inside of a prison cell, with its overbearing bleakness and limited hope. Many of us though, are not unlike prisoners, idly biding our time in a prison of our own making.

This is a prison of the mind - our thoughts, regrets, fears and restrictive beliefs the steel and concrete of our cage.

Think about it - if I asked you what you had to look forward to, what would your response be?

When we lack goals, we lack expectation, we lack inspiration and hope. And this keeps us trapped, pretty much like the prisoners in real jails. We begin to feel helpless when some misstep or misfortune comes our way, believing that there is nothing we can do to make things better.

In our hands lies so much freedom, but how many of us are truly using that freedom to charge ahead towards our aspirations? For those of us incarcerated in prisons of our minds, how can we break out of them?

The first and most important barrier to overcome is our complacence. Most of us have been lulled into a open-eyed sleep by our relatively stable lives, patterns and routines. We've taken our lives, health, gifts and loved ones so much for granted that we're not even aware anymore of how amazing it is just to be alive.

That we're walking, we're talking, we're tasting and feeling, and dancing and loving and that so many people in the world don't even get to enjoy a fraction of what we have.

So be thankful for what you have today and blast away those first few bars of your prison.

Next, revisit your past successes. Yes the past might be done and dusted, but recalling your past achievements can help in convincing you that you are capable of repeating them and even bettering them! Those accolades are a testament to your ability, and no matter what's transpired since then, you will always have it in you to prove yourself once again. There goes another couple of bars...

And finally, blast a hole in that wall by setting goals. We all need something substantial to look forward to and to work towards. Make a list of objectives from the simplest to the most grandiose and start planning to reach them. Do your research! Talk to people! There's nothing standing in your way now really, except yourself!

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Eugine Loh, 938Live, MediaCorp Pte Ltd