Defining Freedom

I've been thinking about this post for a while now, it's just taken me some time to figure out how to put the way I feel into words that fit.

 

How do you define freedom? What makes you feel free?

 

I've always just thought of freedom in the American way of the thinking. Freedom is having the right to vote, having the right to free speech, to feel safe on your own soil, having the freedom to choose where you live, who you live with, where you go to school (mostly), what you want to do with your life, etc, etc, etc. These are huge freedoms that this country worked really hard for and I hope we never lose any of it. The other thought on freedom I've had up until this point is just that heaven is freedom. I was raised Catholic so I believe in purgatory and sometimes (when I'm having bad days) it feels like life is purgatory... Please don't take this as me being suicidal or anything, because I'm really not... Sometimes it just seems like we are here in this place to learn all of the things God needs us to know before he lets us in the golden gates, and sometimes those lessons are cruel and painful but it makes us better people, doesn't it?

 

Dictionary.com Definition of Freedom:

FREEDOM

/ˈfridəm/ Show Spe

noun

1. the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint: He won his freedom after a retrial. 

2. exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.

3. the power to determine action without restraint.

4. political or national independence.

5. personal liberty, as opposed to bondage or slavery: a slave who bought his freedom.

 

Since graduation, freedom has taken on a new meanings to me: The ability to enjoy all of the little things life has to offer. The ability to put time and effort into personal wants as much as obligations. The ability to create a life for yourself that you can appreciate and be proud of. Freedom= Creating your own happiness. Yes, that's exactly what freedom means to me.

 

My little list of Freedom in this moment includes:

1. My new job. Having more responsibility (this is a good thing!), learning new things, always be evolving, meeting new people, doing something that I believe in is an incredible feeling.

2. Being able to say "I made it, I graduated" is awesome. It took me a lot of time to get through school for many reasons and there were many times I thought it would be easier to just quit, but I'm so glad I didn't because how sad would I be if I couldn't say "I made it, I can do hard things"

3. My Body. I am so grateful to be able-bodied. I am such an active person and I have no idea how I would function if I couldn't just get up and go. My body is very resilient and allows me to beat it to bits, sleep it off, and get up and do it again. I'm learning a lot as I get older about being careful in the ways I treat my body if I want to be able to do crazy things to it forever.

4. Being free to focus on myself. I don't have a boyfriend, I live by myself, I don't have school, and my only relative near me (that matters) is my gma. Now, I have been crazy busy with 2 jobs and I see my gma every week, and there's always Stella my puppy love, but there has just been so much more time for me to focus on my own wants and needs... I've also been avoiding my chores like the plague so I can just relax with my friends, Stella, run, make it to yoga, read, all the things I love so much.

5. Bubble Baths. LUSH is seriously the best thing that has happened to me recently. My skin feels incredible, looks better then ever, and I have a sneaky little place to go when I need a time-out. I'm not a 2-hour bath person, I can barely last twenty minutes, but I feel so wonderful for such a long time and it smells so good!

6. Books. I love reading... I actually have to limit how much I read because I would never sleep, okay maybe I don't already sleep, but seriously. I like letting my mind run to different worlds.

7. Hot Yoga. Is my favorite thing first thing in the morning, I like to leave the yoga studio feeling a if I'm stronger then ever. I can do anything. And I start my day in the most peaceful mindset.

8. Running has become a little bit of an obsession for me lately, especially the half marathon. I'm not the most serious trainer but I plan on getting more serious. I have the friend who gets me out to run all the time, the friend who likes to race! The friend who is way too good at it for me to even fathom but wants to help me get better, the shoe guy that gets me really excited about my next race, and the friend I really want to distance run with. Along with many more. It's nice to have a group that likes what you like and wants what you want and that way you can be supportive of each other and have people to talk to about things that other people think you are "crazy" for doing.

9. Summer and sunshine. Being able to feel the warmth of the sun on my face, especially after the dreadful-almost-never-ending-winter that we had is the biggest freedom of all for me lately. What if the sun was on an allowance system? I kind of felt like that for a while this year and now that we've finally earned it back I can't get enough of it, I hope this summer lets us see so much sunshine. Vitamin D is important Mr. Sun!

10. Living in this moment, I wrote about this recently in this post. It's almost as if living in this moment is being free from your own mind, not thinking about what you missed or what has to be done tomorrow, but about how you feel and how simple a moment can be. I'm not sure how thinking this way has suddenly become so easy for me. Maybe it's because I'm to busy to think about what I missed or maybe it's because I'm too happy to focus on the little things that could ruin my day. Either way, it's the best feeling. Being free, being happy.