I'd love to do this work on myself, but...
"I'm blocked by money."
"I have trauma to deal with."
"I have a disability that holds me back."
Look hard enough, and we all have an Achilles heel.
And in most cases, it's a completely valid obstacle.
Some things are genuinely harder for some people. The world is unfair that way.
But in some cases, the obstacle is an excuse. And a shield.
Not: "I can't manage it."
But: "I've stopped trying."
"For a reason you could never understand because you don't suffer from it. (So leave me alone.)"
And it's true — it's certainly not our place to judge, for anyone else, whether something is an obstacle or an excuse. What do we know?
But for ourselves, it matters to investigate.
Because we can easily get drawn into the game.
The game of stagnating because it's comfortable. Because we have the perfect excuse not to do the work that scares us.
And every morning, we choose the routine. And every evening, we complain — because complaining is part of the game.
Over the years, the story gets polished. Becomes something like armor.
After all, if we manage to convince others, why wouldn't we believe it ourselves?
"I'm a victim of my condition, of life, of fate. That's just how it is — nothing to be done."
I think the question that breaks this spell isn't:
"Is it true?"
But: "Is this really what we want?"
Because the more we tell ourselves we can't, the more we end up unable to.
We kill what was possible in us.
Never knowing what we might have done if we'd told ourselves:
"I can."
"It might be harder for me, but I'm going to try."