Limiting Beliefs: The Rope
A childhood tale about self-belief.
April 17, 2020
Reading Time: 3 Minutes
It was a blistering summer day when the circus came to town.
The woman, more out of desperation than anything else, had decided to take a walk.
Her new-born had been screaming for three days straight.
She was losing her mind.
Her once orderly life was gone. Like a sudden snap on a taught fishing reel, her unwinding was frenzied.
She trudged, head bent, through the baking midday heat, not sure where she was going until she arrived at the circus camp.
The eccentric gathering had taken up residence on the abandoned wasteland, on the far side of town where Marley’s had once stood.
A riot of brightly coloured tents and caravans sprawled across the rutted earth, cocooning an assortment of mystical oddities. Limp flags waited thirstily for a let-up in the heat.
A poster nailed securely to the nearby lamppost, dared curious patrons to enjoy an astounding and singularly unique experience.
She stood for a while, transfixed, drinking in the exotic spectacle.
It was a welcome escape from the exhausting monotony of her humdrum life.
The sad, wretched eyes caught the woman’s attention first, gazing at her pitifully from behind a wiry curtain of coarse black lashes.
On seeing such sadness, she stopped to stare in wonder at the vastness of this beautiful creature.
She didn’t expect to see such vulnerability in the eyes of an elephant.
It was then that she noticed the rope.
A dirty yellowed string snaked around the elephant’s back leg, like a vine winding its way up an old weathered tree. It was modest in its appearance and suddenly obvious in its inadequacy.
The realisation dawned.
The elephants weren’t in cages or tethered by chains.
They stood unrestricted, like cows in a paddock, fenced-in only by the fabric of tents and the week armour of a dilapidated caravan.
The pity was gone.
Red hot fear and panic replaced the now-forgotten bond she had once felt with the gargantuan beast.
Her heart thumped relentlessly as she tried to manoeuvre the sleeping infant over the potholed ground.
How could she have been so stupid?
All that stopped the 5-ton beast from flattening her helpless baby was a whisper of twine.
Why weren’t they secured? What would happen if they escaped?
A tiny piece of rope wasn’t enough to hold back a fully-grown elephant!
Panic-stricken, she turned hastily to leave. A withered old man stepped out from behind the rusting vehicle, wiping his oily hands on a blackened rag.
“Ma’am, please don’t be afraid. They won’t hurt you.”
“But, but, but – the rope!” She spluttered “It’s not enough!”
“Sure, it is.” Called the man with a gentle smile.
“When they were babies, we used the same size rope to tie them, and it was more than enough. As they grow up, they stop fighting. That thin rope there is all they need. They believe that the rope stops them from getting free. Now that they’re fully grown, they don’t even try anymore. They just accept the rope; they’re that used to it.”
Most of us have a rope. A limiting belief that we’ve held on to for years, that holds us back and stops us doing things.
The real danger lies in the fact that we simply accept these ‘ropes’ because they’ve always been there.
Real personal growth occurs when you learn to take off your rope.
My Grannie used to tell me this tale as a child. We always ended our story with heroic deeds. We’d break into the camp, severing the ties that imprisoned these beautiful creatures. Back then, of course, I believed it was simply a curious tale about the shocking cruelty endured by circus elephants. Despite the wonders of Google, I haven’t been able to find an author or any information about its origins. I have retold it to the best of my limited ability.
Further Reading from The Rediscovery of Me:
What are Limiting Beliefs? The Truth Behind Our Hidden Lies
Further Reading from across the Web:
Author: Holly Hartley
Holly is an award-winning educationalist, teacher, coach, podcaster and passionate advocate of the power of human spirit to transform lives. She is the founder of The Rediscovery of Me and is passionate about helping others reach their potential. She lives with her family in the Peak District, England.
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2 Comments
Hate the story, love the lesson! It always makes me so sad to know how they treat circus animals, but it is an excellent example of what happens to people, too. I think the hard part is often identifying what your own personal “rope” is. I’ve always struggled with that, not in my career and professional life, but in my personal life, because of the constant negativity with which I was raised. And even once you’ve identified the issue, it’s STILL hard to break the darn rope!
Hey Ellen
I agree entirely! I hate the use of animals in a circus too!
It’s much easier to get into ‘role’ in our professional lives and just get on with it. In our personal lives if we can identify ‘the rope’ we can at least start to tackle it. This is where we need to ‘step out’ and pragmatically look at what the issue is and question ourselves about it.
Are our thoughts reasonable? Logical? If they applied to someone else what would we say/think?
Step by step, bit by bit we’ve all just gotta loosen the rope.
Thanks for the comment. Have a fab day.
Holly 🙂