My wife and I traveled from Vermont to Massachusetts today.
We broke the trip up with lunch and a hike in New Hampshire.
On arriving to the trail head we received fair warning; bear hunting season has begun. Wear bright colors. Carry a bear bell. Know that you are not alone on the trail.
We enjoyed 90 minutes of hiking in a pristine wilderness. Freedom. But imagine if we deeply feared the hunting and bear warnings? How often do people get shot or mauled by bears? Not too often, if we dissect each fear honestly. If we surrendered to each fear we'd have allowed the fears to consume our freedom of exercising, enjoying a fine fall day in New England and receiving the benefits of keeping fit.
Observe Your Fears and Freedoms Forfeited
What fears have you allowed to eat up your freedom? Do you work a 9-5 job almost solely because you deeply fear going broke and losing your healthcare benefits? Honestly assess why you surrender to specific fears which greedily consume your freedoms.
Some people genuinely love their jobs. This crowd feels free working 40 hours weekly in an office setting. But a hefty majority of people dislike their jobs and feel imprisoned by the office.
Working a job solely because of your joint fears of poverty and sickness literally forfeits your freedom. Think about it; does trading 40 hours weekly for 40 years of life to avoid facing each fear sound freeing or confining? No better feeling exists than being free. No worse feeling exists than being imprisoned.
The term “soul-sucking job” came about because losing freedom feels like a soul-destroying experience. Loss of freedom means loss of life because life genuinely lived is freedom, fun and fulfillment.
Across the Board
Allowing fear to voraciously consume you freedoms works the same away across the board. Think about your personal life. Ponder your professional life. How about your domestic life? How did you trade freedom for fear?
Make different, freeing and uncomfortable decisions. Go for the hike even though you deeply fear getting wet in the rain, catching a cold and going to the hospital. Especially challenge genuinely irrational fears to free yourself to new levels.
I worked with a former millionaire who worked hard at basic jobs because he deeply feared investing any money in stocks after losing a decent chunk of change decades prior. He may have avoided the fear of losing money in the stock market but worked 14-16 hour days well into his retirement years.
Does that sound like a wise trade off? He allowed fear to feast on his freedoms when he should have spent his golden years enjoying his nest egg.
Stop Trading Freedom for Fear
Face, feel and release deep fears to stop trading freedom for fear.
Feeling deep fears feels unpleasant but the upside of being free definitely seems worth a few uncomfortable moments.
Never allow fear to consume your freedoms. People live to be free, to feel fulfilled, to have fun and to help fellow sentient beings. But one only follows this path by facing, feeling and releasing deep, pulsating fears.
Go for it.
I know you're up to it.
