Take the situation you are in this very moment. Are you sitting down? Are you standing up? Outside or inside? If you find yourself describing one situation, but thinking that you rather do the other, ask yourself if you are physically shackled, not allowing you to be where you want to be. I’m going to go ahead and rule that out since you are reading this at the moment. Chances are you are mentally shackled; that’s almost worse.

Complaints sprinkle throughout our daily lives in no colorful way like confetti, but rather as little constant reminders that we are not where we want to be. I consider complaints to be important; it’s a way to vent about a situation that you don’t like finding yourself in. Sometimes, other people’s insight helps you feel better and carry on with your life. Unfortunately, I have found that constant complaints only serve to accentuate the font size of your most common worries. There it is getting bolder and bolder “dissatisfied, unfulfilled, unhappy” every time you use your words to fix a problem that requires more movement and less voice.

Perhaps the most bittersweet part of life is that we are where we are meant to be in our life because it’s where we have worked up to be. The good: chances are that with hard work and dedication we can get at least one step closer to a point of fulfillment. The bad:  so many of us have been wrong about the universe being out to get us. The ugly: our complaint riddled life has been crafted by our own hands.

We’ve made an uncomfortable home where we nurture walls of fear. Fear of rejection, of neglect, of failure. We tell ourselves that this home keeps us safe from shattered dreams, while our dreams dance around our fear-riddled home waiting to be reached for. Tear the walls down; your dreams are free, unshackled. Can you say the same for your mind?