What does Freedom mean to you?

Freedom is a powerful word which has millions of perspective. In this blog, I am not going to give any tips or advice to follow to achieve freedom. I am just going to vent my heart out of what freedom means to me. And, I also feel that this is the most important topic to talk out. Since we are all working, striving, running nonstop towards our goals just to attain freedom in every aspect.

For some people freedom means being financially independent, for some, it means free from toxic relationships or free from societies standards or to move even higher, freedom can be just freeing yourself from your own ego.

India is a democratic nation that is free of enslavement. It means that we have the freedom of speech, the right to question, we have the choice to choose what we wear, what we speak and what we do. Yes, we are free from the British. We are no longer the slaves of the white men. At the time, when we were under the oppression of British rule, Freedom meant Indians ruling India. Freedom meant kicking out those White men. Freedom was in our breath and blood. So many died, so many were killed when fighting for freedom. After, nonstop struggle, wars, and protest we hoisted our Indian Flag with pride and happy tears. We had a new belief in our hearts. India is finally a free nation. But, really are we free? Or our freedom is still an illusion?

There are two types of freedom, Internal and external. But, both Freedom shares the same meaning. Freedom means choice.

 The choice to do anything and everything you want. To travel wherever you want. To eat what you feel like eating, in an external way. Right from the language you speak and religion you follow is external.

Internal freedom is freedom from your mind. The endless chatter, the chaos, the egoistic nature. Life is an illusion that is tuned in a way that your mind makes you believe that it is reality. Whatever you see with your crystal clear eyes might not be true. Because whatever you see is the signal given by your brain/mind to your eyes. In Reality, Trees may be pink and water maybe black. But, you see what your mind tells you to see. You cannot change this, because this is how human beings are made. This is just an example of how powerful your mind is.

Since most of us are focused on the external world let's see how are we drenched in freedom there. Since I live in India I have a strong perspective about the claustrophobic nature of the external freedom here. Dude, we are not allowed to eat what we want here! Is this even a democratic country.

 Freedom's first enemy is the judgmental people around. To all those who are judging me based on my short dress and bright lipstick color, you don't even play a part in my life, not even a decimal. But, you know what happens when people judge, that too especially in India we tend to change us. We start wearing a long dress and avoid lipstick even if we love it. Are we free here? NO.

One of my friends said that "Women wearing provoking dresses who come out at night are one of the reasons for rape issues". Seriously? Why don't guys control their dick? Are women not allowed to go out at night? Do we have the freedom to do night shifts and work long hours without fearing "Maybe I am next"? NO.

Freedom to drink, smoke, party and live the life we want is snatched away from us. People call girls who party and speak feminism as fake feminists. Why so? Why is our freedom been judged by you? Being in a patriarchal nation it is really hard to make men understand what feminism is. I 100% admit that there are fake feminists out there. But they are only 20%. What about the other 80%?Why do you ignore them saying that they are fake? Do we have freedom of speech here? NO.

Love is the most natural thing among every living being. It's been there before even fire was found. There is love everywhere. But are we allowed to love beyond our caste? They kill their own daughter just for the sake of marrying out of the caste and bloody call it a pride murder. Are we even bound to love and marry the person we love? NO.

Where is freedom here? Where is the democratic country here?

Now, let's talk about how our minds are imprisoned. The best part is we don’t even know that our freedom is taken away every day and every minute.

The best enslavement tool is advertisement companies. They advertise so badly that if we don't buy their product, then we become poor. Who in the world wants to look poor. Even if we are not earning a lot, even if are filled with debt, we have to buy their product. We have to and there is no other go because they have already caged our minds.

The next best one is the corporate culture we are addicted to. Eat, sleep, work, entertain are becoming a major part of everyone's life. Our minds have been programmed to follow the corporate culture and work for monthly wages without questioning. What are we going to do with this wonderful life by just living 9-5? We all work our ass off to someone who earns billions out of our effort and comes back home tired. After that, we order food and watch our favorite Netflix show while falling asleep on the couch. We eagerly wait for the Saturday nights to party for nothing or as some people say "To Recharge for the tireless next week" and again feel the trauma of Monday hitting on Sunday itself. Ugh! Is this even a life? Aren't we allowed to test our possibilities and live the whole life the way we want? But, can we even do that? NO. Because Society doesn't accept it. It needs to see you hustling or else you can never be a part of this damned society. Corporates have screwed our minds so much that we are not even able to think on our own. Our mind is a wonderful tool and we are being ruled out by the corporates to even use our own mind. We are so much in their prison that we have accepted this life and keep fighting not knowing where we are going.

What does a mental health page has to do with freedom, corporate and democratic country? Well, everything you do, be it your profession or the relationship you carry needs to liberate you. It needs to make you feel light. If not, what happens? Obviously, Stress, Anxiety, Depression, and trauma.

Already life is getting tougher here. We have to fight harder than our parents and grandparents to get through daily hustles. We have to work so hard that we forget our own mental health.

All I come to say is that It is really hard to change the world but it is not impossible. You cannot leave your corporate job right after reading this post or you cannot stop rapes from happening just because you understand freedom. But, what you can do is let go. Liberate yourself of all that is imprisoning you. You can have a really great outlook on your life by just doing what sets you free. Just, when writing this I feel liberated because I can share what I feel and I believe that someone might find this useful. You can slowly choose the career you want, you can let go of toxic relationships, you can show some love to a stranger, you can stand up for yourself. Just search what sets you free and do it. It need not be so huge such as changing the world. It can so small as reminding you to love yourself. Freedom is a choice and everyone has that choice. No one can read your mind. You have the full capability to free your mind. Find Freedom within yourself and liberate your mind!

Happy Independence!