They say freedom isn't free. It certainly wasn't for me. It came at a great cost.... or did it?
In my family, what makes a person valuable is how much money you make, the degree of your personal sacrifice working a job, your beauty, and your things.
What my soul yearned for was freedom. Adventure. Fulfillment. Loving, deeply satisfying relationships. Realness. I wanted to know what was real. I wanted to live.
It never felt like there was a choice between the former and the latter. My heart did not let me choose what it saw as bondage. It's wasn't an option. I had to make my own way.
It was difficult. The most difficult thing I can imagine. With no signs to follow, I had to eke out my own way. Looking back I'm amazed at what I did merely by the grit of my teeth.
The biggest sacrifice was my family - who I loved dearly. I lost every single one of them. My grandfather staying up many hours with my husband pounding him about responsibility was the last straw. We up and left, and I never looked back. And I never heard from any of them again. It was a turning point; a statement about my self respect; a statement about my own power.
They don't value my voice, my freedom, my power, my choice. They loathe it. What is a relationship if it doesn't hold up and honor these things?
We don't lose anything when we choose freedom. Not really. Things only fall away that are not us. So don't be afraid to follow your heart. What's true stays. Sometimes you're left with a completely blank slate.
Your soul is free. It wants to be free, and it knows how to be free. If you'll just give up the doubt and struggle and let your heart speak to you, you can avoid the many years of pain and suffering I endured as I found my way and built my own path. Celebrate your soul freedom.
Freedom is not a sacrifice, and it is not difficult. It's only difficult to work against yourself. Freedom is your power. When you embrace your self and let it shine through and guide you, you are the most powerful force in the universe.
Celebrate in your freedom. There are no shiny things, no respect from others, no safety or comfort or sense of certainty that can even come close to the feeling of shining your freedom.
Freedom isn't free. It will cost you everything that's not you. You may even die - to who you aren't and who you thought you were, that is.
Choose freedom.
Source
Related Reading:
Trapped by Your Own Life
Here's What You Need to Know to Be Yourself in a World of People Who Don't Want You to
Self Indulgence Or Self Love by @whatamidoing
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So beautiful. So true. Great post, @brightstar. I’m so glad to hear your followed your heart!
Thanks! It's the only way to go.
Great post. Thanks for sharing your personal tale. Sorry to hear about losing contact with your family, but in the end, you did what you felt you had to do. And it sounds like you made the right decision. To Freedom!
It was extremely painful to me.
To freedom! 🍻
"We don't lose anything when we choose freedom. Not really. Things only fall away that are not us. So don't be afraid to follow your heart. What's true stays. Sometimes you're left with a completely blank slate."
Absolutely amazing quote from you above. I've noticed in my own life things that don't align with freedom, to me, have naturally gone away. At this point, I am a blank slate(mostly) once again. In this blank slate I am able to do so many things that I never even envisioned myself doing. All of this happened once I decided to start living without fear.
That's powerful!
Very, very true!
I think when those things fall away they reveal the us that was always there, exactly what we were always destined to be. Life without compromise is the only life worth living. Some people are terrified of that blank slate that you describe, they revel in the vapid soup of "misery loves company thinking"
Negativity like that is incredibly powerful and infectious, but so is love, tolerance and acceptance. You can change another persons life and mind very easily, you can use a gun or a bomb, very effective, So is a smile or a hug or an encouraging word.
Don't mistake me for some "old hippy", anyone who comes at my partner or kids will feel the full force and brunt of my tolerance. I would just rather live a good ethical, integrity driven life given the choice. A life that promotes love and compassion for ourselves and everyone whom we come into contact with, I like to radiate good vibrations, people accept them or rebel against them, free choice, right?
Take great care and have an amazing journey :)
Thats mean freedom is't free like your life what you can free in community. If the freedom means free without etics, life has fallen (bring it down).
Yes indeed, ethics and integrity is everything, this is what separates man from the animal kingdom (although I believe many animals are better than mankind)
What drives us forward in our journey through life should be what is right.
Have an awesome journey :)
You made the right choice, you know that already!
My real advice in relation to family, friends, colleagues who are not so enlightened is try and love them anyway, love them for what they are whilst living life on your terms for the great adventure it is, or at-least what is can and should be.
We must always try and get the message through to others that life is so much more than they perceive it to be when they scan it at eye level. But what I have found many times of late is that with relation to sinister things going on in the world is that people resist the brand new knowledge that you are offering them and if you keep pushing they fight you, argue and call you crazy and and wrong
But, if you tell them what you now know to be true, they may bleat a little and disagree...
I then just tell them that I have done my research and ask what research they have conducted because obviously an educated intelligent person looks into things, right?
People often come back to me days or even weeks later and tell me that they have found even more information than you gave them and it seems that they actually know more than you...I congratulate them on being aware and savvy enough to research instead of just accepting the mainstream view and I find these people become more open to many new ideas moving forward.
If people reject us for our beliefs then this tells us more about them than about us. Some people are just hard-wired that way and their focus is constantly on themselves and what they want, need and think.
Our soul is too precious to be compromised to accommodate those whom it turns out, are not really worth it. We as beings are not a negotiable entity we are entirely what we decide to be and the statement that is sent out to others from a place of such a reality is simple...
Love me or hate me, I will ever be me! :)
Image courtesy of the AWESOMETASTICAL Pixabay.
It depends what level you're at. I was at a level of broken-downness from my family that I had to get away from them in order to heal. My nervous system literally couldn't take any more of it. At where I am now, I would be more able to do what you suggest. And yes, there is great value in this. We are too ready to throw people and relationships away in our culture, it's true. I've written about this, too, actually. Thanks for coming by and adding, and I'm glad you're out doing what you're doing! 🍻
Yup! This may sound like a paradox considering my advice, but...
I did not speak to any family member from early 2008 until 2016, it was not a fun split for me however it was necessary.
"At night, I slept like a baby"
I was lighter in my demeanor, spirit and in my everyday life. It was as though the source of many of my problems, stresses and worries had been removed.
When I did re-establish contact I was not the same man, I had changed, I valued my new inner peace and mental clarity and to be perfectly honest I had a lot more self esteem and valued me and my time and opinions a lot more.
My friend, please don't think my advice about loving them anyway was a catch all solution or that it is any sort of an indictment on your decision, nobody on the planet knows more about your inner turmoil, confidence and stresses than you and if that clean break got you to where you needed to be then fantastic I am extremely glad that you put your own welfare first!
Take good care, here's to the future :)