By: Stuart Knight (Founder and CEO) | February 4, 2025
Let’s go deeper with a question for a little self connection. Are you as trapped as you think you are? Let me explain.
The other day, I was thinking about a story that a friend once told me, that illustrates what I’m talking about. You see, she bought a house and one night decided that she was finally going to change all of the door handles in the house. So, after a few hours she finally made it to the last door, which happened to be her bedroom. While changing this final door knob, she pulled the door shut and at that moment realized she had made the mistake of locking herself in.
Ok, so at first, she wasn't too concerned and started playing with the handle trying to free herself, which didn’t work. I mean, if it did, this wouldn’t be much of a story now would it? From there she jabbed at it with a screw driver, which didn’t work, then she tried to flick the latch from the inside, which again proved that she DID NOT work for the CIA. Eventually she did what all of us would do, she punched it! And it was at this point that she realized that she was locked in. Now, this wouldn't have been a big deal if she had a phone with her, but her phone was on the other side of the door.
So, she sat on the floor and thought about her options. And after going through her options, she realized that it could easily be a couple of days before friends and family became concerned. It was also the weekend, so her co-workers wouldn’t be looking for her until Monday. I know, so old school. And to make matters worse, my friend was also going through a rough patch in her personal life at the exact same time that this was happening, so being locked in the room was one of those final straw moments, which is the reason why she began to cry. For like two hours straight, which is pretty impressive.
So, eventually it got to the point where her body could not physically produce any more tears, which is when she said to herself "there is no way that I'm staying in this room all weekend". She said "there has to be a way out!" And asking that question caused her to start searching through her closet to find something that might help her. This is when she found a bobby pin that a friend had left behind in a little box, which she DESPERATELY started using to try and move the latch on the lock. She told me that she tried this about a hundred times, and was beginning to lose hope and thought she’d try ONE MORE TIME, which as all good stories go is when she managed to shift the lock just enough to open the door.
And when it happened she said it was one of the best feelings she had ever had in her life. I said, even better than meeting me? And apparently, it was a lot better. She said that the air on the other side of the door actually felt fresh on her face and that she had a new sense of freedom that she had not had for a long time. All of a sudden, the rough patch she had been going through felt like it was just a little further behind her than it was before. She said it was like she was getting back to herself.
After hearing that story, it made me think about how all of us sometimes feel like we are locked in some room that we can't get out of. Maybe it's a job that we don't like, or a relationship that's tearing us up inside or a friendship that is draining us of our energy. Hell, it could simply be a general dissatisfaction with life, and in those moments we are convinced that it's going to be that way forever.
When any of us feels that way, I think the best thing we can do for ourselves is sit on the floor, cry our tears, but eventually we have to stand up and say "THERE HAS TO BE A WAY OUT!" And just asking that question is the first step to getting your power back. And it’s that power that not only unlocks a door, but unlocks the life you’re supposed to have.
Much love,
Stuart
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