“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first.” ― Jim Morrison
When in your life have you experienced a revolution of personal freedom?
Most obviously, when I left my parents home (too young at age 16) striking out on my own, never to return again as a child. Tough, frightened independent and determined, I eventually found my own way in the world, eventually rising above my hard scrabble, working poor, Appalachian roots. The second revolution came on my 50th birthday, when I finally realized that I had accomplished much of what I has set out to do and finally gave myself credit for a job well done. After a lifetime of taking myself too seriously, now in my sixth decade on the planet, I can really appreciate my life and enjoy the fruits of my labor.
When I was about 30 I experienced a depression that lasted, on & off, for about 2 years. It was triggered by being dumped. Somewhere along the way, I determined that the reason I was taking it so hard was because I was living a life set up to please others instead of being myself. Since then I have tried to live according to my own beliefs, values and convictions rather than by some outside messages. It has not always been easy but I haven’t experienced a depression since.
In the word of my late UU minister, John Cyrus, “Now I don’t try anymore to be either like everybody or different from everybody.”