Americans love their freedoms. Freedom to believe. Freedom to not believe. Freedom to speak. Freedom to vote. Freedom to NOT. Freedom to think. Freedom to choose. Freedom to buy. Freedom, ultimately to do as we please. In fact, we mostly think of our freedoms as if they were a birthright. They are NOT.
Freedoms greatest enemy is freedom.
Viktor Frankl was right. The statue of Liberty on the east coast needs a bookend on the west. The bookend, he said, was the statue of responsibility. Want more freedom in your life?Grab more discipline alongside it. Your happiness is not dependent on your freedom to live unconstrained. Your happiness, it turns out, is more dependent on your ability to resist impulse, your ability to set long term goals and keep reaching toward them, and your ability to embrace the acute pain that is always part and parcel to a life well lived. “Freedom for and addiction to” are simply two sides of the same coin. Are we really freer lovers since than the 60’s or more enchained, alone, and self absorbed rather than actualized? Are you? Slow down and reflect. Look in the mirror. Look around you. Are you getting this?
Freedom is NOT free.
Enjoy your freedom. Do not take it for granted. Remember, you are your own worst enemy and your fixation on freedom needs a little self governing. You do govern yourself, don’t you?
Freedoms best friend is self discipline. Build some and taste your real, hard earned liberties. Freedom bookended with discipline builds virtue. Freedom, remember, can only be sustained by a virtuous people – at least that’s what our founders believed. What do you believe, my friend? What are you building to align your behaviors with your beliefs? Tell me more…
BUILT TO LEAD 