Incarceration

For a lot of people, when someone says the word ‘incarceration,’ words like ‘prison,’ ‘maximum security,’ ‘lock down,’ or even ‘Rikers Island’ come to mind. This is a valid definition of incarceration, but I would argue that there is a more pernicious kind – mental incarceration or mental slavery according to Bob Marley.

A lot of times we find ourselves in situations where we aren’t growing and we want to leave, but we stay for sentimental reasons. Like I said in previous posts, it’s okay to walk away from people or things when they no longer provide any benefit. It doesn’t mean that you don’t love them anymore, and it definitely does not make you a user. It just means that you love yourself and are choosing to look out for yourself and that is definitely not a bad thing. How are you going to grow if you never challenge yourself? How are you supposed to move forward when you sit in one position?

So how do you know when you’re supposed to leave? When you’re the smartest person in the room, you need to leave the room and go to a place where you are forced to read  and think again. And you can’t depend on other people to let you know when you’ve outgrown a station in life, you have to sense it and act on it. Not everyone is going to understand, and you’ll definitely face some opposition, but they’ll all figure it out eventually.