Whether we like it or not, nothing in this world is free. There’s no such thing as something for nothing. There is a universal law of cause and effect that is irrefutable. When I speak of freedom in any context, I am speaking of putting yourself in a position to make your own decisions, and not having to rely on other people or outside forces for your quality of life. With this being said, every decision you make comes with a cost, so making sure that those decisions are calculated and well thought out is essential for you to meet your goals.
Take, for instance, a person who has decided that they are done with the 9-to-5 rat race and that they are going to spend the best years of their life traveling the world, living every experience they can on their own terms. This person has to make a tough decision on what they are going to sacrifice in order for them to live what they consider a truly carefree life. Does this person sell everything they own and fly to some remote location, picking up whatever random jobs they can find as they vagabond their way through various countries living solely in the moment?
This approach, while bold, requires one to be very resourceful. It comes with the realization that at any moment they can have serious problems with their day-to-day living situations, or an emergency that they might not be able to pay for. What about if/when they want to retire? How does someone have the ability to sustain an income high enough to support themselves into their golden years? Another tough decision then arises when they need to ask themselves if they want this lifestyle, are they then willing to live with the bare minimum to cut costs down? Finally, this begs the question, if they really want to be liberated, are they willing to accept the fact that they will live a life rich with experiences, but impoverished in terms of financial resources?
Take another example of a person who decides their idea of freedom is to be able to have enough resources to buy whatever they please and go on luxurious vacations. The problem with this approach, which should be a bit more obvious, is that it is in no way an easy thing to accomplish this goal. There are few careers that will offer a high enough compensation to afford this lifestyle, and how does that work out in terms of time? Assuming this person picks one of these careers, they will spend a good chunk of their youth after high school with their noses in a book, constantly studying and being at the mercy of academia while piling on a mountain of student debt. When they finally graduate, they are more than likely working over 40 hours a week in a high stress environment.
Of course, another route to financial freedom is for them to own their own business. But, if you think that person who owns a business has more free time than the person who goes into a high salary field, you probably haven’t started a business yourself. In addition to most businesses failing, an entrepreneur doesn’t typically make a salary for two to five years. If you play the safe route and start a part-time business on off work hours, you won’t have much time to sleep, let alone be free.
The bottom line is that in order to achieve a sense of freedom in your life you need two things:
1 – A clear definition of what freedom means for you. Do you want freedom of time, money, relationships, or social constructs?
2 – What is it that you are willing to sacrifice in order to achieve this freedom?
Most people say they want things because it’s easy. They basically are saying, “Sure, if it falls in my lap, I’ll take it”. Ask them what they are willing to do for what they want. Ask them if they are willing to give up the weekends they go out drinking with their friends. Ask them about waking up before they go to work or working late when they get off of work in order to get closer to this goal. Ask them if they are willing to put a big amount of money on the line that they would lose if they didn’t reach this goal. If they honestly can’t answer yes to these questions, they need to evaluate whether this goal truly is what they want. What people really want lies in their actions, not in their words. If what you really want is to make enough money in a job you can tolerate, to spend more time raising a family while having enough time to hang out with your friends, that’s great. There is nothing wrong with living that lifestyle. The problem comes for those people who are miserable and don’t know why, or simply won’t do what it takes not to be.
In my days working in marine construction while floating along the intercostal, all I could see on both sides of the water were multi-million dollar mansions. At times I would build seawalls for these huge properties and get to see what real decadence looks like. Most of the mansions I’ve seen shared one important thing in common: they were almost always empty. To me it just never made sense to be in a situation where I made so much money, but had no time to enjoy it. I’m sure some of the people who own these houses are doing what they love, but it would be a joke to say that they are more free in terms of time.
My ultimate goal is to live more with less. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to make a lot of money so I could do/buy virtually whatever I wanted, but if I had to make the choice of sacrificing the one currency that is always diminishing, time, then I can’t honestly say I really want it. What I found for myself is that once I made a choice as to what I really wanted, everything else was a means to that end. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve spent years of my life studying and working toward my goals, foregoing many of life’s pleasures along the way, but I felt content because I knew what I wanted. Because I knew what it was that was the ultimate goal, I had the discipline to use my free time to my advantage and to continually move toward it.
To live a life of freedom is to understand that you also are choosing a life of discipline; there is no way around it. The real secret here is that the lesson is in the learning itself. The famous author Ryan Holliday wrote a book called ‘The Obstacle is the Way’, in which he explains that the more challenges you face, the more appreciation you gain for the process, and more importantly, for yourself. Will there be bad moments? inevitably, but that’s the point. The idea is to learn to love the challenges, because that’s how you grow into the person who will change the world, or at least the worlds of other people.