Personal Freedom

Freedom is an expansive topic. What do you think when someone asks you what think about freedom?
What do you picture when someone mentions freedom? What topics of concern and how are you affected by freedom? Some may think Freedom of Speech. Some may think Freedom of the Press or Religion.
Tonight I will be talking about personal freedom and how it pertains to your every day life. I had never thought about freedom in this way; but I found such value in it.
Whenever I think of freedom, I typically think of Independence Day in the United States. I think fireworks. I think marching in the parade with my uncle and grandfather for the local VFW
chapter I am a part of.
I am sure most people have heard about political, economic and social freedom. For example, you can be a multimillionaire and locked up in prison, but you would still not have the ultimate freedom because you are being held in prison.
I heard this description on stage one time and I have heard it from time to time on audios I have listened to as well.
Let’s take physical freedom for example. More specifically health. If someone were to eat unhealthy, they would be sacrificing their physical freedom. How? Well, let’s say someone eats fast food and doesn’t really concern themselves with eating properly. What would happen to this person after an extended time? Maybe they become overweight. Maybe they develop high cholesterol. Maybe they are unable to play sports because they cannot be active and compete in sports for extended periods of time. Because they develop high cholesterol or some other health condition, that person might not be able to eat specific foods, maybe they have to take medicine daily.
Let’s flip the coin. Let us take an example of someone who does work out regularly, eats healthy and nutritious foods and gets plenty of sleep. Because that person is disciplined with what they put in their body, they have more freedom physically. They will have more choices on what they can eat. They are more mobile. They don’t have to worry about taking medicine or about their health as much. They would have more physical freedom because they are disciplined.
There are some cases where people who still take care of themselves still get sick and develop illnesses, but for the most part, we can make proactive choices on what we eat and how often we exercise and how much sleep we get. For me personally, I know I could get more sleep. This article isn’t how I exhibit all of these disciplines, it is about providing value to you and helping people understand the principle of their personal freedom.
Now let’s take an example of someone who is completely financially free. There are people I know personally who have developed a passive income that comes week after week and money is not a concern to them. For this person; they would be financially free. But how did this happen? Simply put, there disciplined themselves to this point. For these people I know they created it through discipline. It did not happen over night, but it also did not happen by accident. If someone is financially independent they have more freedom than someone that does not have that freedom. They can do what they want when they want with whom they want.
Now I will use the example of someone who is making $10.00 per hour working 40 hours per week. Based on this wage, this person is limited(key word here) to $400 per week. Let’s say this person has a $75,000 mortgage, $25,000 in student loans and two car loans. With this debt, this person does not have that much freedom. Can this person become financially free? Can this person develop the same financial independence as this last person mentioned? Definitely.
But it will not be easy and it will take discipline. A couple years ago I thought someone that might be wealthy was lucky or it was given to them, that they could live life spontaneously. Through the books I have read the mentors I learn from I have learned the opposite is true.
Those with the most freedoms have the most discipline. These individuals do what the common person will not. It is easy to get on a workout routine and get to the gym a few times a week and it is also easy not to.
The question comes down to this: What kind of personal freedom do you strive for? Financial, Political? Social?
It is really a question of what you want and doing the little things consistently over time. If someone wants something so bad, they will find a way to get it. You can have anything in life if you work hard enough for it.