Freedom is one of mankind’s greatest gifts. To be completely without the control of another is priceless. Going back through history, it is not surprising to see that people were willing to die to be free from the oppression of another, rather than continue to live in subjection. To get a modern day glimpse of how much freedom means to us humans, just take a look at recent events in the Arab world. For example, every time I have watched some of the rebels in the current crisis in Libya interviewed, their statements always sound like this: “We will continue to fight this cause until we win or die fighting”. This is a reflection of how much value we as humans attach to freedom.
While the concept of being free of the control of another is great and highly appealing, is this all there is to freedom? Can freedom be an impediment? I think one of the greatest freedom anyone can have is freedom from self. True freedom is the ability to set yourself limits and stick to them. Not everything permissible by law can be permissible for you as a person if you must be truly free and succeed. There has to be some restrictions that you self impose on yourself because you have the bigger picture in mind. Consider the following examples of some of the problems confronting our society today: teenage pregnancy, alcohol problem drinking, drug and substance abuse, cigarette smoking and its attendant health problems and youngsters killing each other in the name of being cool. Now think about this question, is the root problem freedom or the lack of freedom? It appears to me that in many or all of these examples, the real issue is a wrong understanding of freedom. To perceive freedom (as believed conventionally) as the right to do anything a person wants to do and no one must dare to interfere is at best myopic. True freedom is to say although I have a right to drink myself to death, I consciously refuse to, because it is firstly not proper and above all it will hinder me from being successful and I want to be successful. True freedom is about self discipline.
As a doctor, many times when counselling patients on health promotion issues such as stopping cigarette smoking, cutting down on alcohol intake, losing weight etc, I hear the phrase I know but… I am yet to meet anyone I have advised to stop doing something that they didn’t know they shouldn’t be doing anyway. The problem is hardly ever a lack of knowledge; it is usually a problem of lacking the discipline to do what is necessary. Why is the concept of freedom from self not appealing to many? It is because it involves pain. It is painful (at least at the beginning) to go out jogging instead of sitting at home and watching the television. It is painful to see those juicy looking, nice smelling fast foods and turn away. It is painful to deny yourself pleasure and choose instead to study. It is indeed very painful to change. Here is another thing that can be painful: suffering the consequences of your actions or inactions. Life responds to the principle of cause and effect, you will always get the effect of what you have caused, and cannot get an effect you have not caused. If you are not willing now to pay the price necessary to bring your life goals to fruition, would you rather be willing to bear the pain of living the future without achieving your goals? The choice is yours.
“One way or another it’s going to hurt to make adjustments in our lives. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we can choose the pain we endure. We have two options: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.”- John Maxwell
“If you do the things you ought to do when you ought to do them, the day will come when you can do the things you want to do when you want to do them”- Zig Ziglar
Many thanks for your followership and inputs. Did you know that you could add friends and family to the group? You will greatly succeed.
