Your Armour Has Served It’s Purpose And Now It’s Time To Let It Go

Photo by @buckygludish

We spend years building it, carefully constructing the pieces. We are meticulous in their placement, protecting areas that have ached before. We are compulsive when it comes to reinforcement, tirelessly searching for any minor chinks, and we are relentless in our perception of its value, which is often just blurry and skewed.

For many of us, our armour is a big part of who we are. It’s been with us through the decades, at times feeling like the only thing we can really trust. It becomes part of our identity and morphs us into who we think we are or who we think we need to be.

It’s there to protect our wounds. To silence the emotions we aren’t able or willing to express, and to keep vulnerability and sensitivity at bay, so that we can experience the world in a somewhat smoother and more uncomplicated manner.

So yes, the idea of leaving it behind is a scary one, but it’s not near as frightening as the idea of keeping it on.

We shield ourselves from the world as a way to survive. If we hurt less, if we limit the pain that we experience, and if we muffle the heart, we think that we can endure more – and maybe we can – but definitely at a great cost.

Because when we cushion how we feel, yes, there may be less damage from the bad, but there is also less impact from the good.

We miss out on the richness and the depths. We miss out on the closeness and the warmth. We miss out on the affects and the connections and most importantly, we miss out on each other.

Being able to relate to one another, to feel seen and understood, is, at its very core, a human need. When we expose ourselves to one another and we lift the bandage off the gashes, we create an opportunity to heal and grow.

We create conversations and exchanges that have the strength to imprint, to influence and to make a permanent mark. We create real moments with real feelings that have the power to feed our souls until the end of time, and we create a way to truly live instead of just a way to survive.

Our true selves have waited long enough. They’ve been patient as they sit below the surface, underneath all the layers and coverings. And yes, our armour definitely served a purpose but now it’s time to let it go.

So as the weight comes off your shoulders, take a deep breath. Feel yourself stretch and move without containment and restrictions. Let your body relax as you loosen the grip, and dance yourself into your new found freedom with open arms and a smile, because you my friend are one of the lucky ones, you’ve found your way home.