What’s your version of the matrix?

What world do you trap yourself in?

In the 1999 cyberpunk film The Matrix, humanity finds itself trapped within a computer simulation created by artificial intelligence to keep it under control and use them for their own ambitions.

Some people are aware they are trapped in this simulation and wish to break free from the control placed on them by the machines. While some want to remain in this world as they are scared of what life would be without it.

Re-watching this film recently got me thinking. What world do we trap ourselves in sometimes? Is it one of pain, suffering, doubt or lack of confidence? Who do we let create this world for us? Are we just participating in a place designed by others?

I’m not going all Elon Musk here and suggest we are in a simulation. Instead, I want to explore the stories we tell ourselves and the worlds we create to trap ourselves in or to use another terminology, our version of the Matrix.

Perhaps, we’ve built a world based on past events of fear and doubt. One in which we are afraid to explore our potential due to the consequences we fear through the stories we tell ourselves and are told by others. It could be one of pain, a world designed still so full of the pain of days gone by that you’ve become trapped in that place.

Whatever it is, we all design the world around us. We create a place and tell ourselves stories which shape the way we live our lives.

One of my favourite quotes on this very topic comes from the author of Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk who said: 

“People fall so in love with their pain, they can’t leave it behind. The same as the stories they tell. We trap ourselves.”

And this is a common thing that all humans do. Whether we are conscious of it or not. We all have the tendency to hold onto pain, doubt, fear and the stories which we create from these feelings. We build a prison in our minds, our own version of the matrix which keeps us controlled by negative energy.

The things we tell ourselves and the thoughts and feelings we choose to indulge shape our world. You shouldn’t believe everything you think that’s for sure. 

If you want to break free from the world you currently occupy then reflect on the stories you tell yourself and those from others which you allow into your headspace. We can all build our very own simulation like the matrix which traps us in moments we refuse to move on from or we can break free.

Much like the famous, do you want the red pill or the blue pill question, we all have the choice to be trapped or break free to design a new world. 

Like the great Morpheus said, “There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.” So, build your own path, change your stories and break free from your version of the matrix.

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