My Defination of Freedom v1

March 3, 2026 3 min read

philosophy

Redefining Freedom

When we were kids, freedom means no homework.
In college, it meant no attendance.
And now, it’s money.

Or at least that’s what I used think.

But over the past few years, experimenting and FAFOing around a lot of things and experiences, I came to a realisation that money is important. Money can buy happiness. Money gives options, but options don’t automatically give freedom.

Let me explain.

There was a time when I thought that if I had X amount of money, I would be free. When I started getting paid for projects, it felt good. I got that feeling of being independent, but over the time that feeling turned into anxiety. It suddenly went from “How do I earn” to “What if this stops”.

Money removes your survival anxiety, but it introduces a new performance anxiety.

And that’s when I understood that.

Financial freedom is not about having money.
It’s about having less dependency.

See, if your lifestyle needs high income to survive, you’re not really free, you are just stuck at a expensive level.

So the real question becomes:
Are you building assets… or are you building a lifestyle that owns you?

Mental Freedom

Now this type of freedom is something nobody talks about. There was a time where I used to do a lot of things, and by lot I mean a lot of parallel tasks. From outside it looked disciplined. From inside I was just chasing a lot of things.

I was chasing being ahead, not falling back or even proving something. Freedom is not about doing more or proving something.

Freedom is when:

You don’t compare yourself to others.
You can log off without guilt.
You can rest or sleep without feeling guilt of being lazy.
You can say no without the FOMO.

I feel that is a different kind of wealth.

There was this book I had read called The Miracle Morning, where the author had a very interesting POV of freedom.

Freedom is the ability to choose your own challenges.

That hit me. Because waking up early, building stuff, working late, that’s not freedom by itself. It becomes freedom only if it’s aligned with what I truly want.

I asked myself that what if:

Nobody could see your achievements.
No one could like your posts.
No one knew what you built.

Would you still do it? This question made it clear because sometimes we don’t chase freedom, we chase social validation.

True freedom is:

Choosing a decision even when you are uncertain about the outcome.
Saying NO and this is enough.

The thing is that freedom is personal. For some it’s getting a Ferarri (like shubham). For someone it’s working from a small room with your closest friends and peace of mind.

For me freedom is:

Able to build stuff that comes in my mind.
Not been forced into work that drains me.
Having control over my time.
And growing without losing myself.

And yeah I am still figuring this out.

I’m curious. What does freedom mean to you right now? Is it money, or peace, or moving out of your parents house, or something else?

Because maybe… Freedom isn’t about escaping life. Maybe it’s about designing it.