Invisible Cages

At some point in life, something painful happens. It can shape the way we see the world, ourselves, the way we think about things, the way we live on—like a wounded warrior, we limp. We become used to it and we think we will always be in this cage—this is life. Just as experiments on animals showed those who are were given negative treatment and didn't have agency, later avoid the trying that behavior again. This is psychology 101 perhaps, but why is this?

It's called learned helplessness which occurs after chronic negative stressful experiences, and one becomes passive and can experience related depression and PTSD. The lack of control during these repetitive experiences is what causes these outcomes. But we can always regain control, we just don't realize it. The danger of cages (mental, emotional or physical) is that they become our new norm, and often, invisible to us.

How can we learn to recognize our invisible cages and take baby steps, or huge bold leaps to escape them? What will shock us out of our cage—a trip to some place new, quitting a job, leaving a relationship, or simply changing a daily habit, which leads to more escape velocity down the road?

Soul-Prompt: What is my invisible cage? How can I try stepping out of this cage? How can I take a giant leap forward? Or even a small step?