(no subject)

[hummingwolf]

Sometimes you need to remind yourself that the existence of a trap directly in your path doesn't mean you need to fall into it. The fact that someone is staying in the trap--voluntarily--when you see a way for them to escape, staying because for them the trap feels like the only home they've ever known, does not mean you need to go into the trap. They may decorate the trap with lace curtains and designer vases full of flowers, but the trap is still a trap and there is still no need for you to submit to it. If someone you care about is in the trap, by all means you should visit with them and speak to them; but you should always make sure that you are speaking to them from the outside of the trap they are caught in. Also make sure to remember that, once they have been shown how to escape from the trap, you are not responsible for ensuring that they do in fact escape. The choice remains with them and, sometimes, people simply are too afraid to live in freedom.

(This note to myself has been cryptic, I suppose, but other people can probably apply it to situations other than the ones I have in mind.)