Freedom Fighter
Joplin said “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose” but I’m having none of that! Actually, I think she just sang it; Kristofferson and Foster wrote Me and Bobby McGee. I loved that song when I was a kid and I love it now, but I’m not really buying the philosophy.
In today’s world, if you’ve got nothing left to lose, well, you have nothing! You need all the help you can get and that means you’re stuck, indebted and dependent. At least, that’s why at this age in time, progressive nations, when we refer to freedom we’re talking about many things but particularly, to having this flex-style or freelance employment that can sustain a person and give them some of those extras so they’re never strapped! I’m talking about doing what I please with my life, when I please it and still being about to receive a steady flow of income that I deem sufficient. Freedom is a billion things to a billion people but I want to feel great about what I’m doing in my work life, because it will motivate me, inspire me daily, provide me with some flexibility tn make it to the soccer hockey and soccer games, the Christmas concerts and deliver a certain mindset that I’ve been craving, nope, thirsting for like a cold glass of water!
At the end of the day, if you have nothing or something, you still aren’t entirely free, but you can feel a sense of freedom and I want to wake up every morning and feel that “aaaaah”. I know that sometimes it will be “go go go”, but I get to decide. That’s it, really. The fact that I get to make the decisions is immensely important to me.
I’m mostly concerned with the freedom to make my living the way I want to so that I can have certain things I’ve dreamed about and remove other things from my life completely.
Some people may wonder what’s the big deal. All I have to do is go to a job and go home. You don’t have to worry about how you’re going to pay the mortgage, etc. etc. Those same people are built for that life. There is nothing wrong with that life. Most people have that life. The thing is, I did and it didn’t work for me. I know this after miserably working in many political, mundane, and bureaucratic environments for decades. Some people fair really well but I have a difficult time with certain things. Things that people who can’t understand me wouldn’t necessarily notice.
Freedom is the primary drive behind my vision. I want freedom to flex my schedule. I want freedom from office politics, and depending on someone else to decide whether I’m employed or let go. I want freedom to prioritize my life instead of someone telling me what’s important. I want freedom to call my own shots and make all the decisions, instead of forcing myself to grin and bear it, all the while grinding my teeth and rolling my mind’s eyes. I hate time-wasting boring decisions that I know well ahead aren’t going to work. I found myself looking at the clock all the time: at my desk because I was bored, when an unexpected time-sensitive so-called emergency situation lands on my lap, and at all those meetings. Don’t get me started on those meetings. I’ve never been fond of people that like to drag meetings out and listen to themselves talk. The politics are draining and sometimes what’s fair is not a deciding factor on decisions. I want to be in a situation that will nurture my life and allow me to take control and where I won’t be asked to compromise my values.
I want freedom to be creative. I want the freedom to make my life really, truly meaningful and useful to others. I want to enjoy my family and friends and if I could flex more time, I could do this. I want to maintain my health. I want to travel. I want to make money that I’ve earned. I want every decisabn to be mine, so that whether I succeed or fail, it’s all on me.
Freedom or independence, or whatever word you feel fits, is the ‘why’ to my vision that allows me to achieve all my other ‘whys’.
It may not be the ideal lifestyle for most and, of course, there is some level of risk and unpredictability, but at the end of the day it will afford me my kind of freedom!
