We all have our own boxes. But I don't mean literal boxes; figurative boxes. Mental boxes. The walls of these boxes are usually made up of our boundaries; our limitations; our fears. A lot of times, they are mental barriers that we tell ourselves that we can't cross.
Or that we're too afraid to cross.
For much of my life, I was a very "in the box" type of person. I went to school, got a degree in the sciences, worked my ass off to apply to professional school (twice), pursued a post graduate career that was a taller task than I could swallow at the time. But all those things were safe. I was still living within the walls of my own mental barriers. Almost out of fear of the unknown.
I frequently looked beyond my own box, almost dreaming of what was outside of the walls. Starting a business, too risky. Buying a house, too expensive. Investing in the market, too inconsistent.
It wasn't until I started to learn, to read, to talk to other people who had the pieces I could only find outside of my box. I found out that they didn't venture outside of their walls. Instead, they moved their walls. They expanded them so that their dreams that were outside, the seemingly unattainable; became within their mental reach.
Since then, I've tried expanding my own walls. Learning and reading, and in the process, breaking down the barriers and moving them until I find comfort knowing what was once a dream, is within reach.
- D.O.