Throwback: Sticks are Stronger Than Elephants (2019)

There was once an elephant tied to a stick. A rope hung around one of its ankles. Instead of running away, the elephant spun in circles. It went around the stick again and again until it got tired and stopped. The elephant didn’t know that it was stronger than the stick. It didn’t know that it could break away. Instead of fighting, the elephant accepted its fate without question. It started going around the stick again, allowing the rope to burn into its skin. The elephant didn’t know that it could snap the stick in half with its feet.
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The elephant was blind to its own power. It believed that the stick was unbreakable, that the rope was invulnerable. The elephant is bigger than the stick, the elephant is stronger than the rope. Why does the elephant allow itself to be stuck?

The only thing coming in between the elephant and its freedom is the way it perceives its reality. The elephant believes that it is stuck, therefore it remains stuck. We are the elephant and the way we see ourselves is our stick. The beliefs that we have about ourselves greatly influence the way we see reality. If we believe that we are weak, then we are viewing reality through weakness. The lens in which we see our life is created by our perspective.

Like the elephant, we all succumb to negativity. This negativity hinders our ability to move forward and to realize how powerful we truly are. Instead of fighting negativity, we allow it to wash over us. If the elephant saw how strong it was it wouldn’t have to keep walking in circles.
So many of us allow ourselves to walk in circles around our problems. Instead of breaking the rope, we create this idea that we deserve the pain that is being handed to us. We may not like walking in circles but we do get used to it. This pattern repeats itself again and again until we learn to break free, and breaking free requires having to let go of who you think you are. Like the elephant, we are powerful. We are all capable of breaking free.

I know what it feels like to be the elephant. You’re exhausted and tired of running in circles, but that’s the only thing you know how to do. You obsess over your problems instead of getting over them. You try looking for healing in the things that hurt you. Freedom will come only when you break free. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. Whether it takes days, months or years, you have to break the rope. You have to break the stick.

Freedom is ironic. Having freedom doesn’t mean you are free. We are all imprisoned by our perspective and by everyone else’s perspective of us. We live in a world that forces us to value things that we may not care about. We are trapped inside of ourselves as we force ourselves to be someone that we’re not. There are so many ropes out there waiting to shackle us.

If you ever feel trapped in life, take a step back and breathe. Understand what is making you feel suffocated and suppressed and don’t be afraid to change it. Don’t be the elephant that circles around the stick, be the elephant that breaks it.