Live Free

Freedom is a funny thing. It's not at all what you think it is when you are young. When you are young freedom is license to do anything. But in the end that is not what true freedom is. When I think back to when I was 21 I remember being imprisoned by my own thoughts about life. There are several times when I felt the least free, once when I was around 18 to 21 and once in my late 30s and early 40s. But when have I felt the most free? That's simple. I felt the most free from when I was born to 18 and from age 50 until now. I felt the least free from ages 18 through 50. But the worst was ages 18 to 21 at the time. Why was this?

I would say it was because all my needs had been taken care of by someone else until I was 18 to 21 and then suddenly as if by magic I was supposed to take care of myself. This is probably the biggest thing in itself. So how does one completely change in how their life works? It is very very difficult. It is sort of like being thrown off a cliff (expected or unexpected into the ocean). Some people like this but most people find themselves screaming on the way down because they don't know if there will be rocks at the bottom that kill them or what. Life is an unknown thing after all. We don't know if we will ever be happy or find a mate. Or if we do find a mate will we just feel miserable and trapped? or what?

So then what is freedom anyway? Freedom it turns out is actually being a responsible adult. Because only as a responsible adult can anyone ever really be free. All other forms of freedom actually turn out to be prisons of one kind or another in the end. Only as a self disciplined adult can anyone actually be free in their lives. I wish this were taught to more people all over the world. Because freedom isn't free. Unless you are self disciplined and ready to die for your freedom and are actually practical about the whole thing, there is actually no real way to be free and to stay free (or to stay alive in any functional way)  anywhere on earth.

So, learning "Freedom Is Responsibility" is necessary to have any meaningful life at all as a full adult. Yes. It is true that many if not most people never really grow up and most have all sorts of emotional and addiction problems like smoking, acohol, drugs, sex etc. and each of these things if out of control ruins their lives and makes them miserable. However, if one is a responsible adult (both responsible to and for themselves and others) then one finds their way slowly to personal responsibility and to freedom in their lives. It isn't easy but it is possible.

Next, it doesn't really matter whether where you live on earth allows you to be free or not. Freedom is an attitude and once you say to yourself, "I would rather die than give up my freedom" you have already won. You are free from then on.