I am not sure I am able to put all my thoughts on FREEDOM in one article, since it is such a vast topic, but prompted by my first sponsor  - @JonicaBradley I will do my best not to disappoint. 

There are many forms of freedom to consider. Let’s see how many types I can cover before sending my reader to sleep. 

Financial freedom anyone?

I guess this one is the most alien to me, as I’ve never really achieved it. What does it FEEL like to never worry about money again? Picking up products without worrying about the price? 

I remember one of my many visits to Poland, when I went to the shoe shop with my mum. I picked and tried on many shoes and once I decided what I wanted, I went to join the queue. It was then that I saw this handbag. It was perfect for everything, but also not boring. I went to pick it up and paid for it together with the shoes. It was much more expensive than any other bag I purchased, but I kid you not - I still have it after 5 or 6 years and it’s the best bag I’ve ever owned. I remember my mum whispering to my dad once we got home:

‘She just went and picked up this bag without looking at the price!’ she said. 

‘Well, she liked it and she works hard, so she can buy things she likes.’ he answered.

‘But she didn’t even LOOK at the price!’ she whispers again in utter disbelief. 

It made me chuckle a little. For a moment I was a financially free superhero. It made me a little sad too. Most mums would be proud that their child is doing well in life and can afford things they like. My mum just worries about everything.  

So you see, this and many other beliefs about money that I picked from home (mainly mum, as dad wasn’t around much back then) aren’t serving me well in life. It feels like a never ending scarcity trap. 

Then I look around at nature and all I see is plenty! Nature is so lavishly abundant and the more you pick or cut, the more it grows back. You can make 100's of plants from 1 healthy plant if you know how. Many plants multiply themselves if you leave them be and they’re happy where they grow. Yet most humans seem to live in scarcity and in debts. How utterly rotten is the system we live in to make us believe so many lies. 

I can do better than this!

Looking at the bad financial situation at home, I blamed mainly my dad. He never stayed long in one job as he would often get fired for drinking and/or not showing up. He tried and failed at many things, including being dad. I decided to do better. Get a proper education, a good career and... happy life?

I won’t bore you with all the details, but I've achieved all that I thought was so important. Amongst other things, I had my dream wedding, I bought my house (well, the bank owns it technically still), I bought my dream car too and I worked my ass off in the process. I was working crazy hours in an engineering companies and I was spending a lot of those £ on painkillers, all forms of physio and acupuncture as my neck and shoulders were in pain most of the time and my menstrual pains were so bad that I couldn’t even walk without a horse dose of painkillers. On top of this I was always tired and stressed. 

Where is my financial freedom and happiness?

Was I financially free? Not at all. Yes, I was ticking things off my list, I was making many of my dreams come true and to my family and friends it looked like I was doing great financially. All this at the price of my own health and wellbeing. 

I have always been a bit of a rebel ever since I remember. Not just teenage years, but my whole life. Paying almost half of my income into the rotten system never sat well with me. Neither did following orders of people higher up on the corporate ladder, but with IQ and EQ half of mine's. It became worse once I ticked many things off my list and they didn’t bring me the happiness I was expecting to feel. I felt somewhat cheated by the system. How come following society rules and getting bigger and better things didn’t fill the void inside me? 

I could make the whole new article just about the VOID and I most likely will at some point. 

Going back to financial freedom though. I have never really achieved it. Many people talk about the covid time like it is some kind of tragedy and how much they want things to get back to ‘normal’. For me ‘normal' is rotten and thanks to covid I had more FREE time to think and practice what I love. This year I decided to become self-employed. 

I love growing things, so I started monetising that. 

I love taking pictures, so I monetise that too. 

I love maths and I’m good at teaching, so I monetise that (sometimes).

I love writing, so I monetise that. 

I love crafts and I’m sure I will find a way to monetise that too. 

Recently I fell in love with Bitcoin Cash… Not only do I get BCH for doing what I love (writing and taking pictures), but there is so much more earning potential that I haven’t fully uncovered yet. It’s all here, waiting for me to get out of my comfort zone and better yet… out of the reach of governments control. 

Am I free?

Let me be frank with you. Financially it is really tough for me right now. But there is much more FREEDOM in my life now than ever before.

• I am free to choose what time to get up. 

• I am free to choose when I want to work and what I want to work on. 

• I am free to go shopping out of peak traffic. 

• I am free to pick my meal times when I’m hungry rather than on company schedule. 

• I am free from chronic pains.

• I am free to do whatever I like all day long. 

One could say I am finally free, but...

There is a donkey inside of me!

Seriously, I am experiencing a lot of freedom, but I must also admit that freedom is somewhat overwhelming to me. There is nobody to blame for my failures and I have to learn how to show up for myself. The rebel which I was identifying with is now against me. 

• I tell the donkey to write and it wants to message a friend, then fill in a survey and click 10 other links, just to avoid writing. 

• I tell the donkey to plant some flowers for sale and it wants to play with a snail in the garden and take lots of pictures. 

• I tell the donkey to finish one project, but it wants to start another one instead. 

• I tell the donkey to install that amazing photo editing software, but it cringes as it would require killing the internet connection for an undefined amount of minutes. 
  

The donkey is stubborn and does what it wants. Today I told the donkey to shut up for 1 hour and 20 minutes and let me write. I took longer than this, but I managed to produce this article, so I will try this trick again tomorrow. After all I am free to do what I want! I'm sure financial freedom will coincide with tempering that donkey.

Thank you again @JonicaBradley for prompting me to write this article. I would also like to invite @Jihan , @MarSou and @Panky (thank you for your sponsorship too) to write about freedom. Any form of freedom you can think of and whenever your busy schedules allow for it. I'm editing to also add @BSzandra

Here is Jonica’s article for reference and simple rules:

1. Write about Freedom

2. Write 100% original content

3. Write at least 600 words

4. Tag  @JonicaBradley (I'll be happy if you tag me too @fantagira )

5. Have fun