The Birdcage and metathesiophobia
... do you have it too?
It was a startling image.
An old fashioned birdcage, the door wide open; and a little bird sitting mournfully on its perch, not daring to escape and soar free.
And I could sense that it’s me. Perhaps you too. Of course it is! Held in our own cages, our spirits downcast, wanting to be free to soar - yet something is holding us back. The bars of the cage look large and lock us in. We feel unable to get out - even though the door is open.
Maybe it’s the fear of the unknown. Could be scary out there.
Maybe it’s the fear of change. Psychologists say that fear of change, metathesiophobia, is one of the biggest fears impacting peoples’ lives and it can paralyze and impede anyone. Change can indeed be scary; we prefer to remain within our cage with a known scenario. We’re too paralysed to fly free, too fearful of change.
Or maybe it’s the fear that there’ll be nowhere safe; we like the familiarity of the known cage. Or the fear that we won’t fly very far or very fast. Better to sit here and be safe.
Looking at that image, my spirit aches for the little bird. Find the door! Fly out and fly free! Soar, soar! You know you want to! You know you can.
So why not say it to myself?
Because …… because ….. the bars are strong and hold me in. I can’t look around to see the open door, for fear of looking at the bars that hold me back, prevent me from soaring.
It’s mostly fear.
Just think what we’re missing!
“When once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will always long to return.”
- Leonardo da Vinci.
We are, after all, chosen for freedom. (Galatians 5:13) Set free by the Lord. (Psalm 118:5) Taught to fly by Him. (Deuteronomy 32: 11,12 Msg)
I’m thinking quite deeply about the bars of my cage. About what’s holding me back, preventing me flying free and soaring. How I long to soar! You too?
And about what might be tempting me to break free and soar - what is calling to me, gently encouraging me out of that door, and who might help me rise as on eagles’ wings?
I guess all this is to say that over the next week or two I’ll be exploring this more, in my writing, as I think about the bars of my cage, the open door, the choice I have and what’s holding me back.
Do join me. What are some of your bars? What holds you back?
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Come on a pilgrimage with me, walking into Rome in the Year of Jubilee 2025. It promises to be a very special experience. It will be late April/early May - and you can find the SAVE THE DATE info here
Do pop over and take a look for more information.
Thank you, JKL! Yes, def feelings and feelings of soaring (not even ‘just’ being enough). Not necessarily doing.
And I’m thinking mostly about the bars that contain us and prevent us soaring. They can be released. So what are they and what sets us free…
Psychologists also say that even if you're in an unhealthy place, it can somehow feel safer to stay there than to risk change. What extraordinary creatures we are! You certainly seem to push yourself to new things Penelope. I wonder what it is you really feel you should be doing that's different? Or perhaps it's about feeling different. I know that I present as confident but I am full of anxiety that for some reason I think I should not feel. But maybe it's all part of my process 🤷