There are certain things that I would call “appendages”, that become almost a part of one’s life, as a result of the challenges that they face, and the trials that they have been through. These accessories, as I term them, have now become a part of the person’s life, a permanent fixture. The appendages are the tools that they acquired over time, to help them deal with their problems. Unfortunately, the tools have become crutches, because they no longer assist in solving the problem, but in perpetuating them. Now, the tools help the person bear the problem, and suffer through it, instead of seeking a permanent solution. These appendages are survival techniques and tools that last too long, and might even become another problem, in and of themselves. They are the crutches that once carried you, now you carry them.
Our crutches help us limp along through life, but they never address the underlying problem. The crutches excuse, and even encourage our infirmity and feebleness. They provide alibis for us, and give us a false sense of security and wellness. We are sick, well into our bones, but the crutches placate us and dull our senses, deceiving us into believing that all is well, that this is the best that we can do, all while keeping us stagnated.
And so, years go by, opportunities slip by us, but the problems and the attendant crutches remain. The limp gets worse, and we rely on the crutches some more, naively believing how helpful they are. A vicious cycle develops.
If only we could see that the crutches just rationalize our frailty, especially of the mind, which is the worst possible place for a person to be infirm. So we never seek real solutions, real healing, real care. Infirmity has become a quasi-permanent state. And we accept it, and feel grateful. Why would we seek better, genuine, full healing, when we believe that we have all we need in the crutches?
Thus, we continue limping along through life with the crutches that have now become a part of us, a life companion, even part of our identity. Wherever we are seen, the crutches are seen, too. Wherever we go, there go the crutches. People define and describe us by our crutches. If they extend an invitation to us, they might as well invite the omnipresent and regressive crutches. Sometimes they see our crutches even before they see us, because the crutches have subsumed our identity, hopes, and dreams.
What we fail to see is that we are carrying the crutches, more than they are carrying us. We are expending valuable energy- both mental and physical- to carry the crutches, when we could have just used the same energy to move ourselves, to travel faster and further. A crutch-less, unencumbered spirit can scale heights that a spirit weighed down by crutches can’t even begin to envisage.
You think you need that thing or person to serve as a ladder for you, to stabilize your life, or help you climb higher. Truth is, the ladder is leaning on you, more than you’re leaning on it, and it is adding more to your burdens, rather than alleviating them.
So what to do?
First, identify your crutches, recognize them for the dead weights that they are. This can be difficult, because as we have already established, many people think that they need their crutches, and they erroneously rely on these self-limiting albatrosses. Others will argue that their crutches are actually useful and indispensable, so recognizing a crutch is a challenge of its own.
Implement a clear-eyed, honest assessment of all the mental accessories and aids in your life, and note the things that subtract rather than add joy and light to your life. Anything that has consistently encumbered your progress must quickly be jettisoned with the promptness that a sinking ship ditches its cargo, in order to save itself.
Travel through life light and free. A burdened being rarely ascends to great heights.
You must first cast off the mental chains and crutches, before you can take hold of a brighter, beautiful, liberated future. Let the crutches go. Set them free so you too can be free. You are both the inmate and the jailer here. Set both of you free, and you will be free indeed.
Here’s to freedom! Oh, how sweet it is!