While, on some level, the idea of being in a cage is appealing, just imaging it gives me a panic attack. But combining the current Lustitude’s image with this week’s QuoteQuest quote has a deeper meaning to me.
Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.
The Cheshire Cat
As free as I am, I often feel caged. Just recently I experienced a pushback, because I dared to take on something that apparently other people didn’t think I had any right or place to. I won’t go into detail what it was, but me being a woman played a huge role in it. I was prepared to hear the things I heard and I wasn’t surprises. Yet, it still hurt, especially as it also came from women.
This single incident represents so many other moments we all experience in our lives. By the expectations and restrictions which society puts on us, we are caged. We find ourselves not able to move into the direction we want, but at the same time we can’t go back. And like a caged animal, one walks along the bars, restless, with no way out.
This is a problem that needs to be worked on and changed, and I strongly believe that it will change over time. At the same time we, too, cage ourselves. We put up bars in our mind and don’t dare to find a way around them.
I need to do this and take care of that. I have to finish the article for work. Dinner. Shopping. The list could go on and on. But I do have those moments when I sit back and think. Not to make lists or structure the day, but imagine.
Using my imagination to what could be. This shows me what I want and crave and need. And if I’m really lucky, I realise that what I’m imagining is not some unreal dream, but something that could actually happen. Not exactly as I imagine it, when is it ever? But concentrating on the most important aspects allows me to see where I want to go and what I want to have.
Imagination truly is the only and best weapon against the cage I built for myself. Through my imagination and the courage to dream, I make it possible for myself to see a way through the bars of the cage, or around them, or over them.
Date to dream! Dare to imagine! Dare to uncage yourself!
See what the picture inspired others to:
Read other thoughts on that quote:
It takes courage and imagination. And, funny as it may seem, not everyone has it.
Good for you for reaching for something you wanted despite what others might think- and facing the consequences as stressful as it sounds like it was! I really like where this picture took you… thanks for sharing this with us! I agree our imaginations are almost like a „first line of defense“ to moving forward!