What is holding you back?

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We often feel that we are stuck in our lives. And it is almost certainly not something that will happen in the future, but rather something that has already happened. We think we can't move forward with our lives because there is something holding us back. Something that fixes our thoughts, that clouds our ability to see beyond what worries us. And we are almost never able to look at this fixation and see that it only exists in our minds.

It is very rare for a past event to prevent us from moving forward. Surely our mind wants us to continue to look at that event, that set of situations that no longer exist today, as something desirable.

Imagine that you have had a serious relationship that left a mark on you. And that you currently believe that you will never have another one of the same magnitude. Well, this obstacle, this pressure, is only created by your expectations. The fear of taking risks leads us to think that what we already had was very good, and that it will be difficult to find something similar. When we think about it, if something no longer exists, it is because it does not make sense at this moment. Someone who has passed away, someone else who sought happiness with another partner, or chose to go their own way. We don't have to get stuck in the moment and stop ourselves from moving forward.

We are our own boundaries. If we don't let new people into our lives; if we don't let the absence of someone stop us from being truly happy, then we are sabotaging our own lives.

We are clinging to something that no longer belongs to us. To something that no longer makes sense. To something that should be left behind.

I don't mean to say that we shouldn't remember the good and bad times we've been through. Life is a journey. And that journey is not always straight.

If we feel that we are on a train and that we are moving away from our destination station, the sooner we get off that train and stand on the platform waiting for another train to take us in another direction, the sooner we will be heading in the right direction. Just by getting off the wrong train, we are already looking for something better. The longer we stay on the journey, the further we will be from where we want to go.

And there is nothing wrong with feeling lost. But sometimes that feeling is largely due to our inability to let go of what was once good for us. To let go of memories that will never be reality again. To leave them behind and set off in search of something different. Always with the hope that we are heading towards happiness and harmony.

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Original text in Portuguese translated with DeepL.com (free version)}