THERE IS ROOM TO LEARN TO BE FREE
Learning to be free is unlearning the ways of your limiting beliefs. It’s looking at the lies that used to have so much power over you and realizing this is something you can work through, and break through. You don’t have to stay there forever.
Learning to be free isn’t only about running through the hillside with arms wide open, but also, about taking slow and careful steps in the direction of morning light. When the night before was too much, it’s looking at the now-illuminated room and knowing it is here in this space that you are free to move forward again.
One of the definitions of ‘free’ is ‘no longer confined.’ What I love about this definition is the ‘no longer.’ It’s a reminder that being free isn’t something we automatically find ourselves in everyday. It’s something we must step into. It’s a daily practice of release.
So let’s think about this release:
what can you practice releasing yourself from today?
Is it something someone said about you earlier this week?
Is it a doubt you’ve had about the future because of what hasn’t worked out recently?
A lack of resources that have dwindled your hope for what lies ahead?
Whatever it is, be kind to yourself if you’re not able to just “get over it” in a second. Even when it comes to the small things. Because even those things could easily be rooted in something much deeper. Sometimes we don’t even realize we’re believing certain things about ourselves until years later. Sometimes the things that were said and done to us have had a lasting effect that we do not even realize. Knowing this, be gentle with yourself if you have a hard time believing that you are indeed: worthy, beautiful, gifted, important, unique, creative, or interesting. If you find that there’s some resistance to that, take a breath and remind yourself that overcoming this takes time. Learning to be free involves many, many lessons. It involves a lot of undoing, unlearning, and relearning who you are. It’s surrounding yourself with good people who will remind you of this. It’s reading good books and making new memories and actually smiling at yourself in the mirror, even before you’ve fixed your hair and have gotten dressed for the day. It’s knowing that this life is difficult, and it’s okay if some of the things that have happened here have deeply affected you, but at the end of the day, they do not define you. You are allowed to be free from what anyone else has said about you...even the things you have said about yourself.
Let today be the day you remember you are learning to be free from whatever it is that is holding you back right now. Whether it’s insecurity, self doubt, or a lack of confidence in yourself, see each day as a new series of lessons in the greater lesson of learning to feel free, live free, and be free. And remember, like many lessons, there will be tests! There will be conversations that make you question yourself. There will be memories that pop up in your mind that remind you of the times you failed. There will be moments where you fall asleep to yourself and just begin to go through the motions. But there will also be moments where you are allowed to breathe deep. There will be moments where you feel free to relax and not have to pretend to be someone you’re not. There will be seasons of life that you look back on and say, “I really did break out of the mold back then. I really did challenge myself to break past the barriers of the lies I used to believe about myself. And even though I’m still learning, I am so much stronger now.”
Hold onto those moments. Let them remind you that in all of the things you are learning in this season, there is still grace and room to learn to be free.
Word of the day: Free (adj) “no longer confined (Lexico by Oxford)
Affirmation: “I am worthy of more moments where I feel free.”
Journal Prompt: What makes you feel free? Why?
More in this week's series called "Peace, Right Now", only with a subscription in the Storyteller App.
Sincerely,
Morgan Harper Nichols
@thestorytellerco
@morganharpernichols
