At some point, while walking in old Nicosia, Cyprus, in the fall of 2024, I saw this graffiti and I couldn’t help but wonder how many limiting walls we come across in our lives and how many we dare (not?) to break down. More than the physical, tangible walls that divide and delimitate, invisible walls are the sneakiest and most corrosive. They exist in our minds and are made of our perspectives and assumptions, our visuality, which like our own shadow, always follows us.
C.P. Cavafy, in his acclaimed poem Walls (1896-1897), wrote: “Without consideration, without pity, without shame they have built great and high walls around me. […] Ah why did I not pay attention when they were building the walls. But I never heard any noise or sound of builders. Imperceptibly they shut me from the outside world.”
We become so familiar with what we know that we don’t even realize it. But what IF we are much more than we think? What IF we just need to break down the invisible walls of our minds to expand our choices and embrace our potential? What IF reality is not exactly the story we use to say? What IF breaking down is much easier than we think?