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You've probably heard that line from The Matrix.

Everyone thinks they took the red pill. They escaped the 9-5. Started the business. Left the toxic relationship.

They're Neo now, awake, free, unplugged.

But here's what they miss:

The Matrix isn't your boss, your debt, or your circumstances.

The Matrix is the voice that whispers: "I shouldn't be here."

That voice followed you to your dream job. It found you in Bali. It's with you in your morning meditation.

And every time you listen to it, every time you plan your next escape, you're not breaking free.

You're building the next cage.

The Matrix Follows You

Most people feel trapped somewhere in their life. Maybe it's you too.

Every time you think "I need to get out of here," you split reality in two. You create a broken "here" and a perfect "there."

That split - that rejection of what is - that IS the Matrix.

And here's the fucked up part: the Matrix follows you.

You can change jobs, cities, partners, it doesn’t matter.

Because you're the one carrying it.

But here's what nobody tells you about escaping.

The Escape Plan That Never Works

You see this pattern everywhere:

Rich but never safe enough. Spiritually seeking but never free enough. Successful but never fulfilled enough.

For me, it was working 9-5 trapped by the weekend countdowns.

Sunday afternoon, lining up five identical containers of food, I kept thinking, "Is this really my life?’". The more I told myself to push through, the heavier it felt. By the time I sealed the last box, I was already rehearsing excuses to call in sick.

Maybe you've felt it too. That feeling of being trapped, even when you're doing everything "right". The harder you try to fix it, the worse it gets.

You can't outrun it, because you’re carrying it everywhere you go.

Just like trying to run from your own shadow. It follows, because it's you.

So if escaping doesn’t work, what does?

Here’s the thing:

But once you see it, you'll realize freedom doesn't mean going anywhere or becoming anyone. It's peace with what is, while still moving forward in flow.

It took me 7 years to see this.

You'll see it in 7 seconds.

Running Faster — Staying in the Same Cage

Back in 2017, I earned a master’s degree in engineering, landed a solid 9-5 job, had a good income, security, and what many would consider "success".

Everything looked perfect on paper. Inside? Something was dying.

I left to chase entrepreneurship, then spiritual freedom. But beneath that desire, a deeper truth was hiding.

Every time I rejected my situation, I turned the present into something broken and imagined the future as perfect. In doing so, I built my own matrix, a prison with new bars.

On the outside, life looked like transformation:

• From test engineer → to entrepreneur.
• From depression and rock bottom → to spiritual liberation.

But the real journey was happening within.

Everyone says follow your vision. I say don't follow anything.

Following my visions was like being a hamster on a wheel, running faster only to stay in the same cage.

Until one day, I stopped running.

And everything changed.

I stopped resisting my circumstances and something shifted. I accepted where I was. Not out of complacency, I still had goals and desires, but I was no longer chained to them.

Like desperately searching for glasses while wearing them.

To truly escape the real Matrix, you have to accept the very place you're trying to escape. The resistance IS the cage.

It's accepting the very thing you're trying to escape.

I know how this sounds. "Just accept your shitty situation?" Hell no.

But watch what happens when you try this..

This isn't about giving up or pretending everything's fine. It's about seeing that the resistance itself, that constant "this shouldn't be happening", is what turns any situation into a prison.

The moment you stop fighting life, something weird happens: you get the clarity to actually change it. Not from desperation, but from a place of "okay, this is where I am, what's next?"

It's like when your car gets stuck in the mud. The more you hit the gas, the deeper you sink. But when you ease up and make small moves, the tires catch and you can finally drive out. That's what acceptance does.

It's not giving up, it's what lets you move again.

The Cage That Never Existed

I've been working part-time for quite some time now.

Even though it gives me enough money to live, eat and focus on my dreams, I felt stuck for the last couple of months.

I kept telling myself "I should be grateful", but the more I repeated it, the more guilty I felt for hating every minute. That guilt turned into bitterness, and instead of focusing on my dreams, I wasted all my energy replaying the same thought: "Is this all my life is going to be?"

It felt like having wings built for flight, but being locked in a cage where I could barely move.

And then it clicked.

The problem was never my job. The problem was me fighting it.

So I tried something different.

Every time I felt that rage about my job, I'd grab my journal and write down exactly what triggered me.

Instead of trying to fix the feeling or escape it, I just sat with it. Just letting it be there.

Then I'd ask myself: Could I let this go?

You know when you're holding a pen really tight in your hand? Your fingers hurt but you keep gripping? That's what I was doing with my hatred for the job. Once I saw that, I could just open my hand. Let the pen drop.

The feeling would release. Not always completely, but enough.

The more I let go, the lighter I felt. And that's when things really started to shift.

After a few weeks of this, something wild happened.

I started doing better work. Not because I was trying harder, but because I wasn't wasting energy fighting anymore. The job hadn't changed. My resistance to it had.

The energy I was using to resist came back as creativity and focus.

Today, I'm still working part-time. Same job. But now it funds my dreams instead of killing them.

The cage was never locked. I was just holding the bars so tight I couldn't see I could let go.

How to Actually Do This

When you catch yourself thinking "I shouldn't be here":

• Stop and write it down. What triggered you? Get specific. "Monday morning meeting" or "checking bank account". Whatever it is.
• Feel it without fighting. Where is it in your body? Chest? Throat? Don't try to fix it. Just notice it like you'd notice rain.
• Ask yourself: Could I let this go? Not "should I" or "will I" - just could I? Like that pen in your hand, could you open your fingers? Usually the answer is yes. If it's no, that's fine too.
• Let it drop. Sometimes it releases instantly. Sometimes it takes a few rounds. Sometimes you need to come back tomorrow. All good.

My clients usually feel a shift within the first week of identifying their pattern.

The point isn't to become some zen master who loves everything. It's to stop turning neutral situations into prisons with your resistance.

There are only 3 patterns behind every 'I shouldn't be here' feeling. And most people don't know which one controls them.

Some people wait for everyone’s approval before they act. Others want to manage every little detail before they can rest. And some want full safety before they’re willing to try.

Which pattern keeps you stuck?

Most people have no idea. They think it's their situation, but it's actually their pattern playing out over and over.

Look, if you're still reading this, you already know something's off. You've tried the obvious solutions. Time to try the non-obvious one.

The longer you wait, the stronger these patterns become. But once you see which one runs your life, it starts losing its grip immediately.

I built a 60-second quiz that reveals exactly which pattern is running your life. The moment you see it, everything clicks. That's when the cage starts dissolving.

​Discover your hidden pattern (takes 60 seconds)​

That's all for this week.

What cage are you ready to stop building? Hit reply and tell me. I read everything.

Also, if there's something you're struggling with that you want me to write about, let me know. These newsletters come from real conversations with real people. Maybe yours is next.

Talk soon,
Tomas