I think it’s fair to say we all want freedom in our lives. There are many things limiting and constraining us we would love to break free from. I know that is certainly true for me. Many of the things we are trying to gain freedom in will take time and work. However, ultimate freedom is readily available and a decision.
Where would you like to create freedom in your life? Would you like to be free financially so that you can do all the things you want to do? Do you want to be free from health challenges and limitations so that you can be the best version of yourself? Do you want to be free from conflict so that you can enjoy amazing relationships? Do you want to be free from stress and anxiety so you can focus on things that are important? I think it is fair to say we all want these things.
All of those things will require focus, hence why maybe you haven’t achieved all of them at this point in your life. However, there is one type of freedom, the most important type of freedom, that is ultimate freedom, and you can have it right now if you choose. So, what is it?
That’s a great question, and as always, I’m not going to answer it straight away, but see if you can work it out. I’ve already told this story at some stage; and it goes back to the time when COVID-19 first started to impact our lives. As a speaker, a large percentage of my income relied on me standing in front of people and talking to groups. At the start of 2020, I had many paid speaking gigs booked for the first half of the year. It represented speaking to many people and earning many tens of thousands of dollars in return. We all know what happened in March 2020 when the word started spreading about this global pandemic.
All of a sudden, panic set in all around the world. Places started shutting down, events were canceled, and consequently, every single one of my paid speaking gigs evaporated in front of my eyes, all within a couple of days. Did I feel free at that time? Not only did I not feel free, I felt imprisoned by uncertainty, by anxiety, by all the things I could no longer do. In that moment, fear rose in my body, anxiety hit me, and I slid down the wall and dissolved into a massive and earth-shattering tantrum. After about 15 minutes of stomping, crying, swearing, and all the other normal stuff that goes along with a tantrum, I stopped myself.
In that moment I knew there was only one person responsible for moving forward positively and productively, and that person was me. I decided to stop focusing on all the things I’d lost, all the things I couldn’t do, and the uncertainty of the future, and I responded by asking myself a question. The question was, there are things that, right now, I can’t do. So, what can I do? In a heartbeat, God went to work putting ideas in my mind about all the things I could do at that time. I knew there was a greater need for my message and skillset. I knew that, with technology, everything I was doing face-to-face, I could do online. I knew that I could move from a local audience to a global audience. In that moment, I felt ultimate freedom to do whatever I wanted to do. I felt empowered, excited, and free.
Within a few short weeks and months, I had replaced the speaking gigs I had lost, and was working with companies, schools, and groups, not just in Melbourne, but all over the world. 2020 and 2021 were the best two years I have ever had from a speaking and influencing perspective. This situation taught me about ultimate freedom. It taught me that circumstances are not my prison. It taught me that losing money was not a limiting factor. It taught me very clearly that ultimate freedom is not something I have to earn or work for, but something I already have within me. Have you guessed it yet?
Ultimate freedom is contained in one word. That word is responsibility. Really? That’s it? I can hear you asking. Yes, that is it. Let’s just look a little more closely at the word, because it is the amalgamation of two words that made this a little clearer for me. Those two words are Response Ability. In other words, your ability to respond, not react. Reacting happens when we look directly at the circumstance and think about how and why it is so bad. Responding is looking at how the situation can actually work for you. Can you see the massive difference? Reacting will imprison you in fear, lead to poor choices, and trap you in a dark place. Responding will liberate your mind, open up options for you to learn, grow, and improve and give you ultimate freedom to be the best version of yourself.
This message is very much reinforced in my podcasts this week with Wilk Wilkinson, called Ultimate Freedom, and Back pain be gone, with Ben O’Loghlin. The next time something happens in your life that looks on the surface, like a bad thing, ask yourself a very simple question. That question; how is this happening for me? The moment you ask that question, ultimate freedom is yours. It will unlock ideas, it will empower you, and it will leave you knowing that you can never be held hostage by any circumstance ever again. That truly is ultimate freedom.