I work hard to be free.
While this may seem counter-intuitive, it's not. Not if you want to really be free to work for yourself, at your own pace and to (most importantly, to me) not work when a priority in life presents itself time-wise.
Like an outing with a child who won't want to hang out with you anymore one day. A time that will be the present always sooner than anticipated, even though it may seem like a lifetime away in the right here and now.
There are no weekends or after hours when you work for yourself.
Not if you want to really succeed in cementing regular income and some kind of stability. It takes far more effort, determination and focus to pull this off, in my experience, when you're building your own life and income...
than it does working for a regular paycheck...
to help achieve somebody else's dream.
But I've never been afraid of hard work.
Freedom, and freedom of choice, is worth far more to me than a weekend.
Or even (the illusion of) financial stability these days.
And so is really enjoying what I do. Like making art, writing and creating original content, right? In fact, I know these passions require even more dedication to get going proper. Because not service driven and more niche.
It makes me really sad to see people hittin' Hive, with cool original content, and then bailing because they haven't understood that being self-employed requires focus, consistency and a bit of actual work.
Perhaps the really good content creators around here make it look easy and effortless. It's not. They're just that good! Probably after some years of practice.
Perhaps if people have mostly worked for someone else, or only read about other people's success, they don't have an understanding that these success stories came with years of burning the midnight oil, many rejections and a ton of "failures"...
that were alchemized into learning on how to become even better at their art, craft or business.
Or perhaps we've become The Instant Gratification Nation with the rise of the internet of amazing things.
Possibly all of these things.
I saw another (often repeated) trite post on Fakebook that said something like:
"Instead of dreaming of the perfect vacation, why not focus on creating a life that you don't need a vacation from."
I'm busy doing this now.
And it's requiring, as expected, some hard work and effort.
There's also no way I'd be able to be doing this, with this much focus, if I hadn't let go of the material (and other peoples' judgement of my choices) to the extent that I have these days.
As well as a great many creature comforts.
And, mostly, let go of the illusion of future security and stability. Because who can know these things for sure anyway?
But I think, after seeing the effects of these last years (and how suddenly this massive shift was thrust upon all of us) that we can probably all agree experientially now...
that personal freedom, stability and security is an illusion.
If we rely on the external to afford us these things anyway.
I've also no interest in wasting my time, and life anymore, in the hope that, one day, I'll have enough money and time to actually fuckin' enjoy it.
"The future is now..." original quote source
I was once one of those people living only for the weekend because I was dissatisfied with my weekdays.
And, sadly, I missed most of my weekends anyway because I was so busy "unwinding" that I wasn't really present. Shot of Tequila, anyone? Or a bottle?
Interestingly enough, this was me even when I was self-employed and running my own online web agency from home, by the way. I'd grown it, had decent regular clients and was making (what I now realise to be) a very decent income.
But I still never seemed to have enough money. Or enough time.
I now know that a sense of abundance isn't dictated by how much money there is in my bank account for real. Feeling safe, or abundant, financially is actually an internal feeling and belief as it turns out, for me personally.
Mostly based on what my own sense of self-worth once was, by the way. Directly aligned with it, in fact. The less worthy I felt, the more I needed externally to try and prove my worth to others.
The more I grew to know and accept myself for who I am, the less I've needed to prove my worth to others and to be almost completely reliant on their validation. In order to validate myself.
In the end, it all began and ended with me. And me alone.
Whether I have enough was entirely dependent on whether I believed...
that I am enough. 😊
Abundance and wealth are also entirely relative.
As an example:
My "broke", back then...
was someone else's "Wow, they're rich!".
I look back, these days, and I'm a bit ashamed at how blindly and overtly wealthy my "normal" was.
Yes. Abundance is completely relative.
And what you believe becomes is your chosen reality. But you know this part.
So, while I'd managed to extricate myself from the security of a regular paycheck and had built up my own business, I hadn't figured out that I had to step out of my own unhealthy programming of what "successful and normal" was...
in order to find the freedom to be who I authentically am.
And, following this discovery...
to begin to create the life I really want.
I mean... you can't create the life you want if you don't really know who you are, right?
It was by taking the practice of minimalism to the extreme (and in all honesty, this kinda happened outside of my control or I may have never gone as far as I did with this practice)...
that I found myself...
underneath all the material bullsh!t that was only holding me back from a genuine sense of freedom. And a genuinely permanent sense of security and mental and emotional stability.
This sounds counter-intuitive again 😁
I know!
But it's not.
And, I suspect, you know this part already as well. But have you fully accepted this yet?
What stood out the most for me, was the fact that the documentary specifically targets "Fight Club" as instrumental in the energy and violence that erupted at this festival
Are you fluffing kidding me?
No mention of Capitalism, consumerism and the incredibly adverse effects these are having on people... clearly evident after the glory years of the 80's when the system began to crash.
That's some great "journalism" guys. Nice diversion. 👍
Let's continue to blame the guns for our troubles as well. And ignore the fact that the society that's been created to feed off people's greed, and ultimately separatism and fear, has nothing to do with any of this at all. 🙄
On we go...
"Don't Panic!" Douglas Adams
I'm not going to get all ranty on a sunny #FreedomFriday and mess up your weekend.
Although letting go of material gain as a motivation, for writing and "making", has enabled me to pretty much create freely about whatever the f*ck I so choose. Priceless for a content creator or an artist #justsayin
This isn't a rant about materialism and consumerism though. Mostly
I've given up ranting. Mostly
Rather, I wanted to share that you already probably have everything you need to have a beautiful Freedom Friday.
Permanently.
We're led to believe we need to have some kind of purpose, or achieve some kind of dream, to make our lives meaningful.
And sure...
these most certainly did help me keep going, and gave life some meaning, when things got really rough at times.
But there are some truly great minds, who suggest that the whole purpose of this thing we call "Life" is to experience it in full and as fearlessly as we can...
as our authentic selves.
But who are we, really, when we're naked and alone in the dark?
I mean...
how well, with all of the distraction of the material and the busyness of trying to gain it, do we even know ourselves?
A process called Individuation is mentioned in assorted Philosophical and Psychological theories and perspectives. Perhaps this is "the meaning of life" in it's simplest (yet probably most complex) form.
Although Douglas Adams would say it's 42 and I suspect he knows more than he's letting on...
We run around our whole lives trying to answer questions about the meaning of life and our existence, yet we forget to ask what is, arguably, the most important question of all...
Who are you?
And yes... that is a Salvador Dali up there in the montage. 👆
"Additionally, the Caterpillar plays an important role in the development of Alice's identity. The Caterpillar's crucial first words "Who are you?" induce Alice to begin the processes of reclaiming her own identity and deciding who exactly she is." - carleton.edu
Well what just happened?
If you think you ramble and go off topic, 
Told you I do it too.
This was going to be a post about finding freedom by letting go of what other people think, then of the unnecessary bling we often fall into in order to win them over or gain respect...
and it ended up here.
I think I'll leave it here for now...
Because I can 😊
To be continued...of course
Happy Freedom Friday ❤️
Hardened Dreamer
Mother
Warrior
Determined Dancer
and Stargazer
still...
Beyond fear is freedom
And there is nothing to be afraid of.
To Life, with Love... and always for Truth!
Nicky Dee