That feeling of no where to go

My wife told me this incredible story of the hospitality worker at the hotel we stayed abroad. I will call her L:

L was born in India and was trying to get away from her violent father. She had experienced being tied up as a child, beaten and under threat of sexual abuse. Absolutely terrible.

L told my wife the feeling of being stuck. Hopeless. She can only make $100 per month and rent was $100 per month. She would share places to live to put food on the table.

One day, a man traveling abroad who owned a hotel got sick and L nursed him back to good health. Impressed, when he was about to leave, offered L a job in Costa Rica.

It was a way out that so many dream of.

Except…

Many of L’s friends and family tried to get her to stay in India. They told her that she would be human trafficked in Costa Rica. Life would only get worst.

Fortunately, L took the chance and the story for her has completely turned around. She is living the life she chooses.

While each of us has experienced hopelessness, I have never been even close to dire circumstances that L was in. Fear and no hope is what keeps people in captivity. It paralyzes us. It is what maintains the status quo.

We tell ourselves a story that,“This is the best it gets.”

That is utter defeat. So paralyzed with fear that you can’t even take the next step. Because the last ones were so hard. Because of the fear of oppression and consequences. The fear for your safety.

Difficult to make decisions without resources or safety or access or education or experience or without someone to help. Without hope we’re doomed to see circumstances as finite instead of the world of endless possibility. One door closes and there are many more to open. If you are fortunate to live without such fear and are feeling stuck, we need to remember that all we need to do is take a couple steps back and recognize the degrees of freedom that we have taken for granted.

Stand up. Stand out. Go.