I read a great short story by an anonymous author today that had some important lessons built into it. It was a story about a man who passed by an elephant. As he passed by, he noticed that it was bound by a thin rope – nothing else. It was clear that it could have broken free any time it wanted.

Thinking this a bit odd, the man asked the nearby trainer why the animal never tried to break free. “Well,” said the trainer, “when the elephants are younger and much smaller, this little rope is enough to hold them. As they grow up, they become conditioned to think that the rope means they cannot break free, and so they never try.”

…where do I even start??

How many of us are holding on to limiting beliefs based on someone we used to be or something that once happened to us long ago? How many of us are those elephants bound by nothing more than the flimsy rope that tethers us to our past?

I have something I want to ask you to do for me. I want you to take a pair of metaphorical scissors and cut that rope off of you. Step away from the remains. Step forward into the present.

Let me tell you a personal story. I was bullied growing up. It’s not easy to talk about, and I imagine for some folks who read this that it won’t be easy for them, either. But it doesn’t change the fact that it happened. Those experiences shaped the person I am today, and for a very long time I held on to them – and the anger, frustration and hatred that comes along with them.

Then somewhere along the way, and I’m going to say that it coincided with my karate training, things changed. The grudges I had held for decades all of a sudden started to matter less, and it’s because I realized something. I realized that holding a grudge for how someone treated you years and years go is like drinking poison and expecting the other guy to die. I deserve better than that.

With that realization, I changed. I became a different, better version of myself because I let go of the past. Part of holding a grudge is that some small part of you also holds on to the negative self-image that comes with being bullied. When I let go of that grudge, I let go of the limiting beliefs I subconsciously held about myself in terms of who I was or could be.

In other words, I cut that friggin’ rope. And if I can do it, you sure as hell can too. And you know what’s crazy? I ran into one of the same guys who used to bully me over a decade ago recently, and get this: he was a completely different person. The guy I had been holding a grudge against all these years didn’t even exist anymore.

Wrapping it Up

My point is this: life is too short to let limiting beliefs stand in your way. So when you think about trying something, or doing something, and you hear that voice in your head trying to hold you back, tell it to shut the hell up. Cut that rope and move forward, because an elephant may never forget… but it can move on.