The Evolving Meaning of Freedom
00:00:00.000 | My definition of freedom has definitely changed as I've gotten older.
00:00:02.780 | When I was younger and I was broke and I didn't have any money, freedom just simply meant having
00:00:06.660 | enough time to do whatever I wanted with my life, not being limited by money, being able to live
00:00:10.840 | the fullest life that I could without being restricted. So it was this limitless idea.
00:00:15.580 | And that really was my thinking when I started my financial independence journey. I just need
00:00:20.420 | the money to get out. I just need some space. I just don't ever want to be constricted. I don't
00:00:24.940 | want to limit what my family can do. I don't want to limit what I can do. I want to make the most of
00:00:29.280 | this one life. But interestingly, as I acquired more money, I started to change my definition of
00:00:35.380 | freedom. And I realized that freedom really wasn't about unlimited choices. It was just about having
00:00:40.680 | the ability to do what you love when you want to do it. And those are two different things. So for me,
00:00:45.800 | I really struggled with this idea of how am I going to spend my time when I reach financial
00:00:50.580 | independence? What am I going to do? And I realized that I needed to create some limits in my life.
00:00:55.460 | I've realized that freedom really actually only exists within limits.