Ok, the title may be misleading.
Or was it?
Just work with me on this one.
So I ask you, what does being in prison mean to you?
Locked in a cell for most of the day, with minimal exercise or fresh air.
Surrounded by others who have a similar fate.
Away from friends, family, and nothing but hour upon hour to think of all our mistakes, all the bad judgments we have made, but also think of all the time we are wasting away because of a grave error that someone made to lead them to that cell.
And, of course, there is that saying used by some,
"If you do the crime, you must do the time."
Punishment for the wrongdoings committed.
If you were to offer a different choice all over again, how many would you think would change their decisions, with the knowledge of what was ahead?
Now back to the title, I have been to prison, and I'd guess that pretty much all of you reading have done too.
However, this is a different type of prison, the prison of the mind.
A place so scary where there seems to be no way out of, a place where we are trapped and stuck.
A place where are no steel bars to keep us locked up and isolated, yet so much worse, huge fears and negativity.
A cell so crippling that hope and positivity seem impossible.
Where the air we breathe seems lifeless, and all around us gets unnoticed.
In a jail where a key will open the lock to the door, this prison of the mind takes many keys to try and experience before unlocking our mood and thought process.
And for those prisoners who may have been wrongfully accused of a crime and sentenced, what did they do to deserve this sentence?
So similar to those who have encountered a toxic relationship and got punished for loving someone or found themselves in a job they try to do their best in yet feel the wrath of an uncompassionate boss.
Or that person constantly being bullied for how they look or just are.
What did these people do to deserve this treatment yet find themselves alone and afraid?
Isolating themselves from all that once was.
The choice to surround yourself with the right people to help unlock that feeling seems easy enough, yet once in that prison, it leaves a sense of mistrust and doubt.
The inability to trust the person we once were, the support and knowledge of a future once formulated in our heads, is gone, and we are just like a prisoner alone in that cell.
And where a judge holds the faith to sentence the amount of time a criminal must pay for what they are guilty of, we as humans are the judges of the time we allow ourselves to be trapped within a negative spiral.
The prisoner who uses the time to their advantage to learn a new skill or educate themselves, we, too, learn so much about ourselves and others.
And when that day comes, when the time has been served, and it is time to leave, the walk-out door becomes real, and it is the day we stop suffering; it is the day we all feel FREE, a feeling we all deserve, a feeling we embrace once it arrives.
The choice of prison will be there for all, and that's not to say we won't end up there again, but with the right environment and appreciation for life, along with the newfound awareness of ourselves, we learn to escape it a little easier.
Something to think about before we let someone or something put us into that cell of the mind.
Fear is sometimes the biggest prison of all.
Embrace the year, embrace the now, 202FREE.
As always, thanks for reading.
Marcus.