One of the most important lessons I have ever learned is that you are in control of your mind, in the most basic of senses. Your body will most always be slightly out of reach (it will almost always choose basic survival over your personal wishes), your autonomous mind can be influenced by you. While your mind may be impacted by things out of your control – life events, chemical imbalances, surprise stress – your response to these things is always in your control. This response may be short lived, your choice to overcome and power through may be brushed away by the overwhelming need to simply feel sad, bad, or mad, but even then, you’re giving yourself the choice to respond in these ways.
Too often I see the joys of anxiety, depression, anger, etc., being viewed as a prison, as the defining trait to one’s existence. This doesn’t need to be the case. While these things may truly be unavoidable, this does not deem them your prison. We must work to overcome them through forced persuasion, we must find a way to make ourselves know we are worth more than the trials and tribulations thrust upon us.
Once you shift your thinking to view these things as simply adjectives, descriptors of your own-being rather than general summations, you begin to find freedom. You begin to chip away at the metaphorical bars that trap you inside. You take that first step to clean your room and do the dishes that have been piling up for days. You decide to leave your anxiety at the door and initiate conversation with your parents, your professor, your crush. You choose to leave the things you’ve deemed a prison and simply view them as unavoidable hurdles, stepping stones towards a stronger, brighter you.
Deconstructed Echos 