Freedom is very important to me, as it should be to all of us. But to truly become free we first need to realise that we aren’t free in modern society. Our souls are always free. But the rest of us? Not so much. We are controlled from conception to cremation. We are barely allowed to lift a finger without an ID and society pre-determines our lives and assigns us with a barcode based on a prediction of our gender. We are told what to wear, how to act, who to love, how to behave, how to feel, what to think… We’re raised to be mindless drones who never rise or think for themselves, but at the same time, we are taught to be suspicious of anyone different from us. But here’s the good thing. We get to choose whether or not we stay that way.
No Need For A 9 to 5
Freedom means a lot of things to me, but first and foremost it means that my time is my own and what I do with it should only be up to me. I am not interested in dedicating the majority of my life to a 9 to 5 job or a couple of them, just so that I can barely afford to both make rent and eat. Or struggle daily while keeping my eye out for the elusive dream of retirement that keeps being postponed to a higher age by society, and risk croaking before I even get there.
The reality is that none of us know if our bodies will make it to that age, if we will ever be able to afford to retire, or indeed what the world will look like at that point. As much as we have to hope for the best, we also have to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Or at least the worst-case scenario that we can imagine.
Working with something that interests me, working from anywhere and being able to decide what I do and when I do it… those things all symbolise freedom to me. I am very grateful that I have been able to create this life for myself where my time is my own. I am deciding how I want to create a sustainable home that runs itself, and I do have some options.
Free land
More and more people who own farmland are starting to offer some of it up for free. If found one place that looked good. The landowner wanted someone to look after a piece of the land. And that person would get to live there for free, grow their food, and create a good life there. I could get water from their well and rainwater, and I could get electricity from solar panels. A wood-burning stove would be enough for heat. Imagine living for free while getting to enjoy life to the fullest every day. Wouldn’t you want that for yourself? I want that for myself.
I know how to grow my food, how to preserve my food and I can create a lot of natural medicines as well. I can make my clothes, my shoes, furniture, jewellery, home decor etc. I am still learning how to build, and it’ll take time for me to get good at it. I’m still learning in general. I will always be learning. I keep trying new things and practising and I will gradually improve. The thing is that there’s no stress, no pressure and no musts that I need to keep in mind. I am my only competition. I am competing against myself, trying to reach the future self that I know I can become.
Becoming free
I know that I am not yet free, but at this point in my life, I am freer than I have ever been before. I know that I haven’t reached all of my goals or gotten to where I want to be in life, but I am always evolving and every day I am getting closer to where I want to be. Who I want to become. And for now, I am okay with that. I am in no rush.
And when I do feel rushed, and I do sometimes because I am still human… when I feel like I haven’t accomplished enough, I change my perspective and turn to gratitude. I look at my life, look at where I started and I remind myself that what I have today is what someone else might be dreaming of and fighting for. I have come a long way and I have not failed. I am still fighting, still dreaming, still moving forward.
What does freedom mean to you?
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