Independence is Free

Independence 

as per Merriam Webster

/in-de-pen-den(t)s/ noun

freedom from outside control or support : the state of being independent

It's kinda hard to figure out what we really want to be free from. I mean, a lot of people wanted to be free from many things like financial, relationships, work, life, and the list goes on and on... It's something that we just wanna have the feeling of breaking free from a certain feeling or obligation that we oath or reluctantly carry on our daily lives. Come to think of it, we have a lot of those things that we seek independence for. 

I often wonder why sometimes, the more we seek for this thing, the more we are entangled and it got complicated. We end up in an endless battle and got used to it. I think, we just wanna prove we can get it or probably we just enjoy the journey and the challenges along the way. It makes our time worthwhile. 

In the past, I have a lot of things that I wanna be free from.. ummm, well, until now naman, but not as heavy and thorny compared before. And as a little OC when it comes to self-evaluation, I've learned a lot about what Independence really means to me, at least.

Being Independent means you can take care of yourself by yourself. It also means you can pig out or starve yourself to death.  You literally don't need your parent's wallet to support yourself and that also means you have the freedom to buy whatever you want, makes you contented and happy or it can also result to starvation if you spend too much overnight. 

Freedom to say Yes or No or Deadma. I am still in the processing of learning to say No more often. You see, when you become independent to voice out what you truly feel or want, other complications will be avoided. It is hard to really say what runs in your mind, or to what are the things that irritate you or things you don't want to do, but, sometimes, we just have to speak and said No. People who love and respects us can understand why we are saying No to them, and well, people who don't want us will forever disapprove, who cares about them anyway. 

Being Honest to yourself is a sign of Independence. The joy of waking up every single day being true to yourself is priceless. Life is too short to be pretentious, not just to other people but to yourself. An honest self-assessment of your strengths and weaknesses is the first step to shape what you wanna be in the future. There is no right or wrong to this, we are uniquely made by God.

If the cost of being independent means hurting the people you love, then your freedom is irresponsible. We can be selfish sometimes, but there is a certain extent to this. You are not the only person who lives in this world, you have your family, lovers, friends. They are the people who love and understand you, so in return, be responsible for making decisions that might hurt them.

The concept of Independence starts in your mind. It is therefore INFINITE. Use your mind wisely, keep your dreams as wildly as it can get, besides, our mind is a galaxy of infinite possibilities. Its yours and yours alone.

And lastly, accepting, letting go and moving forward is Independence. All things come and go and it keeps on changing whether we like it or not. Freeing oneself from resentment, hatred, and grievance is the only solution if you want to be free from negativity. Some might take a while, but if we keep on doing something to move on and do things better, in time we will definitely be out of that darkness.

It is thrilling to know what Independence means to other people, so I often listen to other people's problem because from there you will know what keeps them away from this word. Well, as for me, the most important kind of Independence is the reason for my wide smile from the above photo.

I wonder what's yours?

//somewhereira.