Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness… do these values sound familiar to you? They naturally do; maybe you know they were included in the Declaration of Independence.
Or, maybe you feel them intrinsically inside you because we all want the right to live, our freedom, and to pursue our happiness.
Still, after spending day after day doing the same thing, collapsing after the job and not having enough time to live for yourself and your family, you might start to think that freedom is some ideal concept that doesn’t exist, is not palpable or concrete.
Yes, in theory, we all are free. Still, some issues get in our way. For example, we got to make a living.
So, you try to find a job, preferably well paid, get involved in being the best employee, work hard, trying to prove you are worthy and climb that corporate ladder until, one day, you realise ten years or more have passed, and you don’t know when or how.
You find another wrinkle in the bathroom mirror and involuntarily pour yourself another drink to numb the day. You see your hands slightly shake and get stuck when finding out that another colleague has died of a stroke.
And then, you try to kiss your teenager “good night” and can’t process her dismissive attitude that wasn’t there when she was three years old… and then you collapse on the floor crying for her, for your youth, for your life that you didn’t know and afford to live.
You did what you were taught: be a good student, never question the authority, do what you are told to do, work hard, get promoted, arrive the first and leave the last.
You followed all the rules, and now you realise your family wasn’t included in your life’s situation.
“But I provided them all they needed”, you tell yourself, trying to find a reason for the last ten years. Still, when you look at your child, who stares at you blankly when taking little pauses from scrolling her phone, you feel that things are unwell. Your rules weren’t good, not for you, not for your family. They benefited your employer, but you now realise you’re just another piece of the corporate mechanism, good while it works and replaceable when it stops.
“I want my freedom back”, you tell yourself, a little fearful and so, so, so tired of everything. Step by step, you try to get closer to your child and partner. They are first reluctant to the sudden attitude change, trying to figure out what was in your mind.
You cherish each moment you spend living, taking long walks in the woods, training for running marathons, and pushing yourself harder – this time on your personal life. You look for something that might help you feel alive again, even if it might hurt for the moment. This is because you feel so numb in your heart that you wonder if you’re still alive.
And one day, you decide your destiny while crying sick when running another marathon. You decided to break free - to break free of society's constraints, corporate aberrant rules, and what other people might think of you. You decide to take your life into your own hands and finally live the way you always wanted: without someone telling you what to do or being the victim of other people’s sudden moods.
You take your freedom and let yourself immerse into it like it was a warm and calming water on a chilly day.
No more urgent tasks, phone calls at night, or asap e-mails. No more multitasking; instead, you take your time to enjoy a good book while you pour another drink – but this time is a chamomile infusion.
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