The games of life

Free as a bird but caged like a lion. 
Trapped inside the bars of my own mentality. 
Exemplified by the invalidating ideas that consumed me.   
Letting my past feed on my present letting it ruin anything close at hand. 
How does one get rid of such parasite? 
One can not live on the downside of a seesaw forever. 
If what goes up must come down then what  goes down must come up. 
I don’t cower away from check because you’re now in checkmate.