One thing that I’ve learned through experience over the past year is the joy associated with freedom. Allowing yourself the freedom to re-evaluate, and come up with the decisions based on high morale. Sometimes, you can find yourself surprising oneself by the choices you make along this journey. The choices can seem far stretched from what you ‘thought’ you would do, but leave you on the other end of the spectrum appreciative for the choice of free will.

Traveling solo has pushed me in many different ways. At first, it was uncomfortable and even frightening to go to a different country where you know no one. However, the memories, friendships, and the experiences always were awakening for me every time I returned back home. Many times during ‘Fight or Flight’ scenario majority of individuals choose to flight. It’s a natural human response to unknown or unfamiliar circumstances. Traveling has pushed me towards the fight arena. I find myself swimming with sharks, jumping off cliffs, going through caves, or even exploring the cities. It moved my decision making in everyday life.

As we all grow and evolve into our highest selves, it’s important to rememember to give yourself freedom to adjust. To change your mind. To change your thoughts. We all have one life to live, and in my opinion it’s better to LIVE than to live in FEAR. “God didn’t give you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.” I’ve been surprising myself by it all, from the change of mindset, perceptions, and mentality to go about life. I am grateful that God continues to pull each and every one of us so we can expand, living a life with no limits.

Everyone I believe craves to have freedom in some sense. Let’s look at the bigger picture of, what are the benefits of having more freedom?

• Creative pursuits: Whether you want to start a small business or indulge in a creative outlet, you can turn that into a reality. The more time and effort you put towards the things you enjoy, it will become easier and will lead to revenue. It would be such a pleasure to have all your bills covered along with the pressure to produce money quickly would be off the table. You are able to use your productive energy towards something you love to do and it will give you a sense of purpose. This blog is a creative space for me, I am able to write about the topics that come to mind and share what God lays on my heart.
• Traveling/Exploring: As I mentioned previously, traveling will always open up so many doorways to your subconscious. I suggest, taking advantage of off-peak seasons in different countries so you can avoid the crowd along with getting a discounted rate. Even if you do a solo travel to a different city or look into house sitting at exotic locations – keep your opportunities open so you’ll never miss a moment.
• Friends and Family: I personally don’t want to wait for early retirement to spend time and create memories with those I love. Nurturing the relationships you have as much as possible, takes effort along with scheduling amongst both parties. As I entered adult life – joining various groups, being apart of hobbies or events that I was interested in, allowed me to come across a lot of new like-minded people.
• Volunteering: Anytime you spend your time to contribute to something outside of yourself, God will always reward you. There’s a lot of events that occur within your city, animal shelter, or another organization. In one of my previous blog post, I went to Puerto Rico on a mission trip to build a home for a single mother who has two sons. I learned how to do electricity throughout a home, plumbing, and building staircases. The most beautiful moments was seeing the smile on the kids face and on my spare-time drawing with them within their new home. Those are the type of memories that will last a lifetime, even if you’re in someone’s life for a period of time.

The obvious benefit of freedom to adjust is enhancing your psychological and mental benefit, such as:

• Creating your own routine: Everyone in the world has a weekend to schedule the activities and suit your natural rhythm. The goal is to have that weekend schedule everyday – no restrictions on how you structure your day. You can choose the hours that you will be your most productive, squeeze in a workout, or either spend time with your loved ones.
• Spontaneous: This is pretty self explanatory! I am not suggesting everyone to say ‘yes’ to everything that it compromises yourself. However, if you decide to go for a day to the beach or attending an event, knowing that you don’t have to wait to get off work or book any PTO.
• Slow living: When I was in Belize, I understood the true meaning of slow meaning. You will move on ‘island time’ but how nice would it be if everyday was as such. You dont have to rush to finish everything all at once. The biggest benefit in my opinion is being present and enjoying the moment, allowing everything in your life to flow. Creating new way to discover new things in life, whether it’s a nature trail, small art galleries, or the new restaurant that opened in your city. All on your timing.
• Peace and self reflection: This is most beneficial thing for me. I love having the time of self reflection and enjoying solitude. I find that it’s under appreciated in modern life. Creating a lifestyle were there’s an enormous amount of peace and time for self reflection actually benefits your own personal development. You can explore all aspects of yourself – your values, interest, passion, purpose, and lean towards a deeper understanding of yourself in the process. You would be amazed by the ideas and revelations for new projects or ways of living will come about. I personally enjoy it due to the face of having one-on-one time with God. Putting your phone aside and being present with just existing is one of the greatest gifts that we all should value more than scrolling down your phone. Scrolling on your phone is countless hours that will go by and you won’t be getting paid for it. It’s apart of mindfulness. The less that’s going on the easier it is to focus on the present and not get distracted by other things.
• Location: There’s no specific job location that you have to be, whether it’s oversees or down the street. You can choose a home base from anywhere in the world and even mix up the environment a bit. You can choose to live in a beach town, mountains, a different country, or cruise across the states. The options are limitless which is how God ordined for things to be – no limits.
• Contentment: No more extra time on the hamster wheel, the idea of simplicity. Having a mindset and lifestyle that less is more, allows your to appreciate the simple pleasures in life – watching the sunset, reading that book that’s been on a shelf, or making a random meal just for fun because you have the time to do these things. As humans beings, we should pray that we find contentment in God regardless of what season you’re in life. This will create a space for you to be present and spend that quality time with those you love.

Overall, the true value of freedom is all depended on how you choose to utilize it. It can as white as a canvas, allowing you to create whatever reality you choose that aligns with what’s important to you. The lists I’ve mentioned above, some may be important to you and not to others. That’s completely okay, because life is about creating more fulfillment and meaningful existence to your unique existence.

Remember along your path through life, solitude and loneliness are opposite things. Solitude doesn’t mean you’re deficient or lacking in anything, but being alone with yourself in your own company. Many great inventors, business men and women, know the importance of spending time in solitude. In a world that is filled with overstimulated click bait, distractions are put forth in front of you to intentionally distract you. Give yourself the time and grace to process things. When your process your thoughts – it’s one of the most beneficial ways to ease any overwhelming feelings and gain a sense of peace.

I know that solitude might be challenging for others or people might see it in a negative light. If you find yourself creating problems in your mind while your along, that just means that you also have the choice to change that negative and stressful mindset into a positive and enjoyable outlook. Look into skillsets to develop for you to adjust your logic and perception, if you find yourself going to that place. Another way to look at this is if you’re an introverted or extroverted person. Extroverts find themselves being more energize by social activity and can feel drained when they are by themselves. While, introverts find themselves recharged by spending alone time and can feel drained when their social battery drains.

Allowing yourself the freedom to adjust is more than chasing status quo, luxury, or prestige. It’s more than holidays, socializing, and family hobbies. It’s about having more freedom and control of your life to create a space of a peaceful mind on a daily basis. Allowing you more time to do things you enjoy and less of what you don’t. Time to process and think things throughly and reduce overall stress.

The outcome of what it looks like is solely up to you.

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