There's an old story about a baby elephant that was tied to a fence. No matter how much it struggled, the baby elephant was unable to pull away from the fence. At the end of the day, the baby elephant gave up and accepted the fate that it is stuck.
The baby elephant grows up with a big tusk and giant legs. Now the elephant can easily pull away from the fence if it want to but it believe it is destined to be tied to the wall. The elephant believes it can not get away.

This is called limiting belief or learned helplessness.
Limiting beliefs are false beliefs. They limit us from achieving our goals and desires. They can keep us from doing the most important things that will lift us up, like applying for our dream jobs, finding the perfect relationship or leaving the abusive one.
Limiting beliefs can stop us from doing the less important things too, going on that holiday, skydiving, learning to swim, driving etc. They put boundaries on what we see as acceptable behaviours.

Limiting beliefs can also stop us from doing stupid things or committing a crime.
Limiting beliefs about yourself can impact your achievements in a negative way. So many beliefs we have about ourselves are just laced with emotional attachments and insecurities that must be laid bare before we can challenge the limiting beliefs.
You are not too dumb to apply for that scholarship. You are smart enough to engage others in healthy and intelligent conversations. You are not ugly and others are not more attractive than you.

It's your limiting beliefs at play.
If you are more worried about what people will think when you think a out yourself, you most likely have limiting beliefs that the society has imposed on you.

And people don't care as much as your beliefs make you think they are.
Sometimes we even choose to believe that things are impossible just to justify our own failure at trying or failing to achieve them.

"Why look for love when many people end up heartbroken?"
"Success is fabricated by the society, why do I have to try?"
"Humans will also look after themselves first and will disappoint you, why should I be close to anyone?"

You are only trying buy your own bullshit. We tell ourselves that the rest of the world is deluded and we are geniuses to justify our limiting beliefs about ourselves.
You can overcome limiting beliefs.

Ask yourself, "what if I am wrong?" The limiting beliefs you hold over yourself will begin to lose their powers the moment we admit to ourselves that they might not be true.

Question your own beliefs. Adopt alternative possibilities.
Another important question to ask, "how are these beliefs helping me?"

We hold on to limiting beliefs because they make us feel special or that we deserve special attention. They make us belief that our problems are unique and the world should stand still for us.
To break free, we must create alternative beliefs and test if they are true. We have to learn to take control of our actions. It might seem like a subtle, little difference, but it actually has huge implications for our lives.

It's a beautiful day. Your life will make sense.
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