The Strongest Chains Are The Ones You Forge Yourself

Life is a journey, and along the way it's possible to lose sight of the path. Over time, as I've worked on self improvement I've shed negativity and misdirected anger like a snake shedding its skin.

With one notable exception. I chose to harbor negative feelings on one subject and express them frequently. All of us have a pet subject or two that we're unwilling to relinquish. Like heavy boozing, being mean for its own sake can be fun and entertaining. However, like heavy drinking, it takes a toll, albeit a psychological rather than a physical one.

Over time, the cumulative effect of hanging on to that bitterness added up. I began to notice it tarnishing my psyche in other aspects of my life. Opportunity, previously abundant, declined. Good decisions were replaced by bad ones. By nurturing bad feelings on one single subject, I was harming myself in many other ways. Much like probing an abscess or a sore tooth brings brief satisfaction, leaving it unhealed only spread the sickness further.

Sometimes the obvious lessons are so obvious, and so right in front of you that it's hard to see them. Once I realized the damage I had done to myself, and begun to heal, the positive changes began to add up almost instantly, on every level of my life. Now that I've found the path again, it's so obvious I can't believe that I didn't see it before.

Now that I've set myself free from shackles that I created for myself, I can look back and recognize how badly I had limited myself by holding on to bad feelings that didn't benefit me in any way. Now it's time to make up for time wasted on unfruitful pursuits, and keep moving forward.