Just how free are you, free of everything?

No. I am not free in my mind and I have quite a large debt which I won’t be free of anytime soon.

“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose” which is kind of where I am in my life right now. Luckily, I have enough money but family ties are nearly obliterated so I am making my life up as I go along.

No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.

I’m not free. I have debt. The man is keeping me down!

No, like the others, I have debts to pay, obligations to fulfill and duties, both social and contractual, that require my attention.
But, such is life.

If I dream that I’m locked in a prison cell, am I free or not? In the context of my dream, certainly not; my bondage feels very real, and I see all kinds of obstacles to my liberty. But there’s a larger context that renders all of that null and void: I’m actually sleeping safe in my own bed, and the dream prison, just like the dream prisoner, is just my mind exercising its freedom.

In the same way, there’s a context in which I’m quite constrained. I have lots of responsibilities, and very little wiggle room for pursuing the things I like to do. I move from one obligation to another, pushed and pulled this way and that. Not free. But there’s a larger context that reveals all of those constraints, as well as the little being who feels constrained, to be my own greater being freely at play. Absolute freedom.

I was free, for an extended period of time, over 8 years. Now I am enslaved to debt, a job I hate and a living situation I also hate.
I enjoyed a creative, lucrative biz. partnership in a creative field where I might work three 14 hour days and make enough money to float the rest of the month. I lived on a beautiful 5 acre property in this area with peace, serenity and all the “free” time one could ask for.

I have gone from a job I loved with passion, zero debt and plenty of cash in the bank to losing my home of 7 years, the biz. folding from the economy and being forced to move back within city limits where my cats are not allowed outside. I am spied on by nosey old neighbors, and my work is emotionally draining with little joy. It is very difficult, to say the least, after such a wonderful run of peace and prosperity.
The only freedom I have at this time is in my imagination.

Being an innovative and entrepreneurish spirit my escape comes from within, imaging all sorts of options and possibilities is what keeps me going at this time.
I may have lost all my freedom on a monetary and physical level but my mind is still free to dream and invent possible new life scenarios and my humor is still free to find the hilarity of ironic twists of fate.
Yeah, laughing all the way to the poor house. Pffft!

I had a dream that pieces of me were locked in small cubes scattered throughout an abandoned city. If you listened, you could hear a faint “help me” coming from the cubes. I woke to incredible pain and the feeling that I had spent the night in restraints.

Freedom will come when I forget the dream and waking the next morning. Until then I feel that I have to stay awake to keep the nightmares away.

Nope, slave to the mortgage/ bills and a job, my husband and mom’s healthcare, other than those pretty major responsiblities, I’m free. At times I allow myself to release all that, and pretend obligations and concerns don’t exist, to get a little sense of the freedom I crave.

Wage Slavery is alive and thriving.

Well, for 99% of us anyway

^^^ OMG….such a soul killer!

”...they make take our lives, but they will never take our FREEDOM!!”

No man can boast off freedom unless he is free from death, for death is the driving force behind all other forms of slavery and is the ultimate of all slave masters.

I am fairly certain I am going to die eventually and yet I do not feel enslaved at all.

I have no debt and if I did not have people depending upon me could live without working and still feed myself, pay my taxes and utilities and have enough leftover to enjoy life without going on welfare.
However, I do have responsibilities – responsibilities to family, employees, and customers. I earn what I receive. Money is not magically deposited into my bank without me doing something.
I too will die some day. That is not what enslaves me. My slave master is responsibilities and doing the right thing.

Death is a kind of freedom as is the knowledge of death.

Woody Allen says to not fear death, look at it as a great way to save money. lol

Death doesn’t chain me down or imprison me. There’s worse things than death. Dementia, etc comes to mind fairly quickly.

Aside from being a wage-slave, I have as much freedom as I can expect to have in the current economic climate. It’s enough, and I’m grateful to have a job at all. Even more grateful that my partner has a job, after being made redundant twice in four years.

@janbb by the way, out of curiosity, would you mind having it the other way round – not enough money but strong family ties?

@ZEPHYRA I never saw it as an either/or but I guess it would depend on how much “not enough money” it was.

@janbb What? We’re not mishpokhe? Such a deal I have for you.

@LuckyGuy You never call! You never write!

@Coloma has all that created anxiety and phobias in you?

@LuckyGuy how would you manage that(hypothetically)? Would you live off the land?

@ZEPHYRA With all the hardships others here suffer, I am a little embarrassed to admit I have enough in the bank. I also have desirable, marketable skills and can work and reward myself when I need it. I am a Lucky Guy. (except for that little prostate cancer thingy.)

@janbb Oy! She’s starting with the guilt! Janilah, for this your father worked his fingers to the bone?

@LuckyGuy you sound not only lucky but wise, logical and hard-working which means you are worth every penny and should not feel embarrassed! Good for you and may you enjoy even better times! As for the prostate thingy, things are looking up and obviously you have got through it. An uncle of mine faced it recently and is sailing through it brilliantly at age 76. So you have youth on your side and should not even worry about it, it’s over!

@ZEPHYRA You are too kind. I will admit to being hard working. I am offered and take on responsibilities because I can, and do, deliver. That is why I cannot just “be free” and take off. I agreed to get it done and I absolutely will get it done!

Re , the PCa thingy… I am 4+ years post surgery and my PSA is still undetectable. That means I have a 96%-97% chance of not having a recurrence and of dying from something else. It’s that piddly 3–4% that bugs me a tiny bit. If it happens, I’ll deal with it.

I am fortunate I am free of debt but I don’t earn enough to say that I got financial freedom and due to the fact that I don’t have financial freedom I have to plan at least two or three months prior if I want to buy something or if I want to go somewhere on vacation. In many ways I don’t think I am a free man because I can’t do what I want to do immediately due to financial constraints.

No, quite the opposite. I feel very trapped in my situation right now. I’m stuck in a stressful job with no degree (yet), and too scared to find something else with the economy being what it is. I am relatively free of debt, but even keeping up with the normal monthly bills is becoming more and more challenging. I feel a deepening sense of despair as my job gets worse and worse with no hope of any remedy in the near future.

We are always free to choose to let go of all our belongings and roam the streets, slaved only to the need for nourishment.

We are free to choose to live a life of luxury with hot and cold running water, an indoor toilet, refrigerator full of food, and many, many other things that 99% of the rest of the people in the world don’t have.

Just yesterday, as I was walking my neighborhood, I was struck by the fact that I live in a city that even washes the streets once a month. I read that in some countries, everyone on the block goes out once a week and cleans the streets in front of their house. Here, a giant truck does it.

The only thing tying me down is my job, once I retire I can fly off like a bird, as long as the money holds out.

Only lack of money. Otherwise, I feel pretty darn free.

@augustlan No your not! What about us????

I’m not free. I’m half price.

I associate with you of my own free will, @rojo. ;)

Right now, being in high school is kind of keeping me stuck with my mother. However, I’m almost done and then I’ll figure something out.

I have responsibilities toward family members and need to save up for a new car. Otherwise, pretty much free to do whatever I want. The only thing I can’t really do is move to a new city.

I have a good job that I love (right now) but I’m part of a core team of 4 people, so each person is an important part of the operation. My boss is very cool, though, so that’s good. He is understanding that we have obligations, like family, and also we have vacation time that we have to use and so we are encouraged to use it (but under our contract, we’ll never lose it if we don’t use it). If I need to leave early or do something during the work day, I can just walk out, pretty much, which is way better than 99% of other workers that are employed by my employer. I like my boss and he likes me, so that’s beautiful.

I have a young child and live in a great school system, so in that way, I am kind of tied.

As far as free time, one of my child care providers is not able to help out right now, so my time without my child is less than it used to be, but still more than the average single parent, so I can’t complain.

Financially, I am doing ok, so I can’t complain there. Because I work for the government, we are always under the threat of layoffs, though, so I hope for the best and encourage all of my friends to vote for the labor-friendly candidates that are on the ballot.

In general, with everything in my life, I try to look on the bright side, and I have a lot of good things in my life. I used to work in the child welfare field, and after seeing parents in crappy apartments with crappy landlords, kids with issues, no car, no money, people that never ever went on any trips, never even went to the ocean, coming from parents that gave them no guidance so the families were screwed up and in the “system” 50 years ago (reading old adoption records in the County, you see the same family names going back generations), etc., I realize how grateful I should be that life is not like that for me.

@ZEPHYRA Some anxiety, no phobias.
Nope, I’ve been through other tough times being in my 50s now, I am very non-neurotic, I don’t worry about things beyond my control. Most of my anxiety comes from getting older and simply not having the drive and stamina and ambition to want to keep kicking lifes ass back when it kicks mine. lol
I’m just getting tired and the thought of working until I die after enjoying such a prosperous run is hard to cope with.

I am also a realist and there is no way I will ever be able to recoup my losses at this time.