Freedom is cruel, for every choice we make to be free the decision makes us less free in other aspects of our life.
The man who does not work has the freedom of time, , to see family, or to calmly observe his world.
But he loses the freedom of capital, unlike the man who can offer security, engage in leisure activities and see the rest of the world.
As they say when one door opens, many others close. Either of these men may envy or even regret the position of others.
The challenge of freedom is to make the best decisions so that we can experience the best of both worlds, hence the fascination with get rich quick – we have enough capital, then retire early for free time.
Our decision for freedom can range from banal (I will have to spend extra time on the treadmill if I eat that cake).
To the routine (if I get a car for work I am free to drive where and when I want but the pain of costs and traffic; if I get public transport its faster, but I lose freedom of space and its inflexible).
To life changing (giving up the secure, dull 9 to 5 job, to start a business that has potential to be lucrative, but very risky).
We make choices to be free and may make stupid or rash decisions that prohibit our independence. Writer Aaron Clarey observed quite amusingly noted that men in North Korea have more freedom than some men in marriage.
My conflict with freedom came to a head this year when I was about to make the biggest purchase of my life – buying a flat.
I observed this through my freedom – when I first looked, I was eager and excited – I saw the freedom of having my own space. I could write in peace, not answer to a landlord and bring back women without interruptions.
Going through the process I began to see the burden of how my freedom would be effected.
I would not be able to afford to travel the world, my job prospects were limited to the radius of my home, and I had the problems of home repairs.
And with the knowledge I had £60,000 mortgage burden – I felt enslaved to my job.
Part of the positive of being a home owner was that it was mine, but apart from the bills I would pay ground rent to some Irish company and pay maintainance costs to a company in southern England.
I noted public areas of the building were in disrepair and had been for some time. If I wasn’t signing a contract with a maintainance company I could fix it myself (that is if the other 25 residents would let me do this).
Realising that this was going to be detrimental to my freedom, not to mention a lot of stress I pulled out.
The truth is we are never free. It’s down to our day-to-day decisions to ease the trouble of our captivity and that is the cruel conflict of freedom.
Perfect Manifesto 