Listen to your soul. It knows the way.

This blog post is in response to Natalie's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 2. You can also view my prelude and response to day 1.

Freedom. What an interesting and complicated word to analyze. In this day in age, I sometimes get the sense that people view freedom as either having total freedom in all areas of their life or they have no freedom at all and are totally restricted. I've fallen into this mindset in terms of trying to find a career, finding a location to live and start a career, and in committing to relationships. 

This mindset has mutilated the true meaning of freedom and not served me on my journey toward the life that I want to live. 

I think the opposite of freedom is fear. You probably realized in my first response to the 10DFBC that I've realized fear tends to dominate my actions. I'm working on it, OK? If you're like me, our journey needs to be about catching those fears as they pop in our thoughts or out our mouth (usually in the form of excuses), take note of them, and try to analyze why they are burdening us.

I was looking around online for something relating to the word freedom, and I discovered a quote by Andrea Balt that really made me think: Freedom is not about the size of your cage or power of your wings or non-attachment to a person or thing. Freedom is about being so truly, madly, and deeply attached to your soul that you can't bear - if only for a moment - a life that doesn't honor it. 

Balt sums up what I've felt and known about freedom but couldn't put in my own words. It always comes down to soul. When I think about what would make my soul most happy, I think about seeing and experiencing cultures I have not before. The human condition and learning about the lives of others is what drew me to study both English and journalism. 

When I push all the restrictions of what people should or can do as society has set them, push the restrictions of money and fear of logistics aside, freedom to me looks like traveling and interacting with people around the world, learning their life stories and struggles. I would follow them around and see their normal day and share that with the world. I see so much truth and beauty in the normal lives of people and I think having others see it too would ground them.

It didn't hit me until right now that I was obsessed with a book as a child that probably planted the seed to write about the lives of ordinary people around the country. I loved DK books when I was younger, but I used to look at Children Just Like Me all the time. The book celebrates children from all over the world, telling about their families, what they eat, what types of homes they live in, their hobbies, and so much more. I would look at their pictures, read about them and it made me sit and wonder how people around the world can be so different, but yet just the same. 

Wow. Sometimes connections just hit you and leave you in awe. 

I was always drawn to this page the most. Funny thing is, I recently started studying Russian, which is where these two girls were from.

I wonder where these children are now.