Climb Outside Your Cage

birdie

My daughter has a little white Cockatiel named Birdie. He’s a cute little bird. Up until about a year ago he had free range and could go in and out of his cage as he pleased. But that all changed when we brought home a Siberian Husky who would really like to make a meal out of Birdie. And he wouldn’t care if that meal was breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Birdie spends most of the day inside his cage now, even though he’d prefer to be standing on the top peering out the window at all the free birds. But that’s just not safe for him to do that anymore with the dog in the house. Sometimes he climbs down to the bottom and paces hastily back and forth by the gate as if he’s begging for someone to let him out. Even if the dog is outside and we do open Birdie’s gate, he somtimes won’t let you pick him up or move beyond the entrance. Maybe it makes him feel safe to know all he has to do is jump backwards to safety.

It’s obvious that Birdie doesn’t mind his cage because he’s usually pretty content when he’s inside. When he’s had enough gazing out the window he graciously makes his way back inside to one of his perches to sleep, or eat.

But Why Do You Keep Returning To Your Cage?
When you go through life ‘playing it safe,’ life gets boring and mundane pretty fast. There’s just not much excitement in doing the same thing over and over… again and again… the same way. Too many people go through life just settling for what they’re given, and not going after what they truly want for their lives. And it’s usually for one of two reasons.

1. Fear – of failing, the unknown and/or of what other people will think. Everyday you risk failing at something whether you know it or not. And there’s no job security in this world anymore. Corporations are letting people go by the droves today, so you had better have a back up plan. And let me tell you something about your critics, they’re probably not thinking about you much anyway and it really doesn’t matter what they think if they are. If they criticize you for having the guts to go after your dreams it’s because they’re too afraid to go after theirs. It’s their pathetic way of making themselves feel better, even though on the inside they wish they had the courage to do what you’re doing.

2. The other reason people don’t step outside their ‘comfort zones’ is because they don’t believe they can be one of the successful ones. But in reality the ‘comfort zone’ isn’t really that comfortable and success doesn’t choose who’s successful or not… it’s people that choose to be successful or not. Because let’s face it, the CEO of a million dollar company and a homeless man on the streets both put their pants on one leg at a time.

Spread Your Wings… and Fly
The thing that keeps Birdie close to his cage, even when it’s open, is that his wings are clipped. If he could fly, I’m sure he would take the first chance presented to fly out the door and take full advantage or his new found FREEDOM!

You don’t have wings…

…but you can fly because you do have dreams and goals. It doesn’t matter how big they are, there’s something out there you want that you’re not going after. No matter what it is, all the resources are available to you. It may take some searching and some work, but everything is possible. And there’s help out there too.

I’m going to challenge you to reignite the fire. Find something you’re passionate about and go after it. No one is keeping you inside a cage but yourself. You’re free to do whatever you want, now go do it.

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