Third world freedom

Many of us dream about financial freedom. The idea of it is to have a passive income so we can do whatever we want to do without having to worry about providing daily needs.

Even though we are talking about a set of two words, we tend to highlight more on the “financial” part of it. How about the second word? How about freedom? If we really want to lift ourselves off our financial burden, shouldn’t we instead focus on ensuring the freedom itself rather than worrying about income.

When was the last time you were truly need the clothes you buy? Did you remember the time when you were content with seventy dollar shoes without worrying about their brand? Do you feel good by donating a few hundred bucks every once in a while, while carrying five thousand dollar bag the next morning? Do you buy for the sake of buying or maybe the sake of owning? I myself still struggle to wash down all these. Though I cannot fully resist them, my first step is to realize that I am a part of consumeristic lifestyle, and it has kept me one step further from my financial freedom.

When we talk about financial freedom, there exist an imaginary point in time when we have enough, and stop working for more money. But it is a dangerous thread to walk upon, knowing that in order to reach that point, we will put ourselves in the money-making cycle. The cycle is even more dangerous due to the fact that people who crave for financial freedom must fuel their journey with highly addictive trait known as “ambition”. This path, should taken correctly, will surely provide more money, but if not careful, might not lead to freedom at all. So there is a chance that no matter how long we take this journey, we won’t be able to reach that point because we kept updating our definition of “enough”. How can someone has so much money but still need more? The answer is consumerism. And as we all know, the more you have, the more you need. Its the rule of thumb of consumerism.

Once we are able to focus on gaining the freedom rather than securing the finance, we can see clearer that it is much easier to reach such state. With frugal lifestyle, we can protect our essential needs, manage our expense better, and we will be surprised of how little money we need to make to be financially free.

Because in the end, the ability to provide our own living does not give us freedom.

The ability to control our living expense does.