Taking Freedom Into Your Own Hands

On a personal level, freedom is not something that can be universally defined. What one person finds freeing could feel constricting to another. When working towards finding personal freedom within our lives, first ask yourself what that means to you.

Defining Freedom

In a broad view of freedom, I will discuss it in two categories: internal and external. Internal freedom is being free from the mental constraints that we impose on ourselves. These limitations often come in the form of fear of rejection, failure, or being judged. External freedom is freedom from the constraints that are imposed on us by others and that we lack control over. Examples of these external limitations include how much money we have, the job we work, or societal pressures. 

These two ideas of freedom go hand-in-hand. You can have every material thing that you want, but without peace of mind, it feels unfulfilling. For example, sometimes people find themselves feeling content with their lives when it comes to external factors, such as where they live and the career they have, but emotionally, they feel that something is lacking. This is why our mindset is an essential part of finding freedom in our lives.

Changing Your Mindset

Freedom begins in the mind. Even if you are aiming for external freedom, you must have the mental fortitude to achieve it. If you can’t imagine yourself feeling free, you won’t be able to commit to the journey of getting there. It is best to begin with the mind because we have greater control over our internal thoughts than over external factors, which we have little control over.

Whatever it is that you want to achieve, focus on the things that you can do to get closer to your goal. A good place to start is with recognizing that you must make deliberate choices in your life to shape your future. While we can’t control external factors that may disrupt our path, we can be mindful of the way we react in these situations. To do this, observe and analyze your thoughts and feelings to help realize why you react the way you do. Not every reaction is rational or well thought-out, and it can lead to regrets. However, it is important to face these feelings head-on and find the root cause of them so that you can work towards growing. Having a grasp on your emotions and reactions will help you make better decisions in your life. 

The next step is to let go of any fear of judgment and need for approval from others. As I stated earlier, freedom looks different for everyone; not everyone is going to agree with your choices, therefore, their approval is not necessary. As social creatures, we often feel the need to be accepted by our peers. While this helps foster community, at times it can lead to prioritizing fitting in over personal happiness. A fear of rejection can result in people not pursuing their dreams. It is important to remember that you will never be able to please everyone, and someone else’s idea of who you should be should never take precedence over who you want to become. 

Next, make sure that you are living in the present moment. Agonizing over past regrets will only increase your fear of repeating the same mistakes. Instead, simply view those moments as a learning experience, and once you take all of the positives that you can get out of it, move on. On a similar note, don’t focus on any anxiety you feel regarding the future. You can’t control every aspect of your life, so the future will always have unexpected aspects. It is not your job to stress over these moments before they come. If you work on improving your mindset, you will be prepared for those obstacles when they arise. The present is the only place where you can make choices that move you forward, so ensure that is where your focus lies.

Confronting External Factors

Once you develop the internal mindset necessary to help achieve your goals, you can begin tackling external challenges. Take a look at your lifestyle and determine which activities are limiting your ideal sense of freedom. Perhaps you often find yourself agreeing to commitments that don’t align with your values and take up a large portion of your time. By freeing yourself from the need for approval, you can begin setting boundaries in your life and ensure that you are retaining autonomy over your time. 

Take action by planning out steps that get you closer to achieving your goals. Your journey may begin with something as small as making adjustments to your daily routine or something as large as changing your career path. For many people, external factors such as their job, housing, and financial situation lead to a sense of feeling trapped. It is important to keep in mind that these stressors are not easy to control, so take them on at your own pace. Create a basic outline of your journey and work towards it little by little. Using a broad outline will help you focus on the overall big picture rather than worrying about the specific details. It is impossible to stick to a plan 100% accurately down to every detail when it comes to life. 

The journey may not always look like what we imagined, and that is perfectly fine. With the positive mindset you have cultivated, let go of the need to control every aspect of your journey. Accept that you are only in control of your own thoughts, emotions, and actions. External factors are something that you can adapt to by analyzing the situation and creating solutions.

Staying True to Who You Are

Sometimes we can get so caught up in pursuing the goals that we end up losing sight of the things that matter most to us. For some people, they reach their end goal and realize they still feel unfulfilled. One possible way to help avoid that outcome is to make sure that when you are setting your goals, you are doing so out of your own desires. Don’t define your idea of freedom by what someone defines as their perfect outcome. When creating your mindset, take the time to identify your values and desires, without taking external opinions into account. If you base your goals on the values of others, you will likely find yourself in a state of unhappiness, even if you have gained what was supposed to be a perfect life. Everyone wants to get different things out of their life, so there is no universal standard of what freedom should be. 

Similarly, sometimes people achieve their goal but are left feeling uncomfortable about the sacrifices they made along the way. Often, these sacrifices are related to personal values, and letting them go was a detriment to their personal happiness. If you become so focused on only your end goal, you can easily lose sight of who you are as a person beyond this desire. Maybe when an opportunity arises that speeds up the process but does not align with your values, you take it anyway because it gets you closer to achieving your dream. However, backtracking on your boundaries to speed up your journey can lead to a sense of unhappiness over time. To help avoid this, check in with yourself along the way. Ask yourself if you are satisfied with the choices you have made so far, and if the answer is no, reflect on what you can do differently from now on to fix that feeling. Confront these issues during the journey so that you can enjoy your achievements once you get there.

Working Towards Personal Freedom

Overall, gaining both internal and external freedom leads to personal freedom within your life. Both of these concepts work together to create an effective means of furthering your life and fulfilling your dreams. While having one type of freedom can help lead to the other, I believe that internal freedom should come first. A positive mindset is effective in scenarios beyond achieving your goals because it allows you to reframe how you interact with life in its entirety. Any adversity that you face can be handled according to the guidelines you have made for yourself. When it comes to attaining your goals, this mindset should be the foundation for how you navigate the process. Finding balance between your internal and external freedom is essential for living a fulfilling and enriching life. You will be able to stay true to yourself and what matters most to you while still pursuing your dreams to the fullest extent. 

About the Author

Amelia Martinez is a Journalism and Media Studies major in the Public Relations/Advertising track at the College of Southern Nevada and currently a Blog/Newsletter intern at the Love Yourself Foundation. She hopes to one day apply her education in a professional career within a creative space. She has always been fond of the arts and spends much of her free time watching films, reading books and comics/manga, and listening to music.