What it takes to be free?

I completed reading my second book of the year only today. Today is India’s Independence day and it was a coincidence that I finished reading this book by Darius Foroux today.

No, this is not about any of the nations’ independence in anyway. It is all about personal freedom. What it means to be free? What it takes to be free? There is no silver bullet for this. And rightly so, the author has shared examples from his personal experience with a full acknowledgement that this may not work for others. But, it kind of gives you an idea about freedom and the possibilities.

I have been intrigued about the idea of being free for a while now, limited to the areas of work and finance. I have been pondering over the dependencies that I have and exploring if there are things that I could do to reduce these dependencies if not completely eliminate it. This is why I was interested in this book. It is an easy read abundant with quotes on freedom and examples from the author’s life that could possibly answer some of the questions that you may have on this topic.

Darius has divided this book into three parts

• The Awareness – This section dabbles in the idea of freedom and what it means.
• The Price – This section talks about how freedom is not free and what needs to be given or sacrificed to move towards the goal of being free.
• The Plan – This section focuses on how to plan the steps towards becoming free. There are examples from the author’s personal and professional life and also some action items for the reader to work on.

Following are some of the quotes/highlights from the book.

• On Social Obligations: You can’t please everyone. You can’t make everybody like you. This is your life and you can do what you want. If you don’t want to visit people’s parties or gatherings, then don’t. By saying yes to everybody, we think we’re avoiding their disappointment. That might be true. But you’re disappointing yourself with these types of social obligations.
• On the Pressure to be Successful: The pressure to succeed forces us to live in the future. We’re trapped in a future that hasn’t arrived yet. And as a result, we miss the present. A present that’s fully at our disposal. We can do anything we want with this moment. But we don’t use that power.
• On trading stuffs for freedom: There’s nothing greater or nobler than freedom. That means everything you give up has less worth than freedom. And only a stupid person trades something of value for something that’s worth less.
• On Comfort: When we experience hard times, we grow. And when we keep growing every day, we will simultaneously become better at dealing with the challenges of life. When we finally believe and know we can overcome any challenge that life throws at us, we’re free.
• On Lies and honesty: Affirmations and positive psychology don’t work when shit hits the fan. Honesty is the only long-term strategy. The truth is that life changes all the time. Good times follow bad times, and vice versa. Go with it. Don’t resist. And be honest about how you feel.
• On Fearing Money: the best thing you can do is to acquire skills that you can exchange for money. That’s a much better use of your time than to be cynical and judge people who are making money.
• On eliminating what makes you miserable: Everything that makes you miserable that can be eliminated, needs to be eliminated. Bad habits, useless possessions, expensive cars, unnecessary subscriptions, you name it.

I would recommend reading this book. Especially, if you feel like you are stuck and fear you do not have any other options. As I said earlier, it’s a light read but makes you think. If you would like to grab yourselves a copy please click here: What it takes to be free?. Hope you enjoy the book and good luck in achieving your idea of freedom.

Happy Independence Day! Jai Hind!