Financial freedom to Real Freedom

Everyone is chasing financial freedom so that they can fulfil their wishes and dreams or retire early. However, this chase can be a freedom trap – a rat race to accumulate more and more money without any end goal. The more you want financial freedom, the farther it seems. Most of the time, we sacrifice our health, happiness, and valuable time of our 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s in its pursuit. Once on the hamster wheel, always on it.

In most recent times, people mark their financial freedom to be able to earn and spend on material gains or on things you wish to have,

But this is not real freedom. What it means is that this freedom is dependent and only applicable if the banking system works and that too for those limited material things that I can buy with it. The financial world does not give me access to vibrant health, joy, peace, fulfilment or loving relationships – which I can obtain only by being aware and spending my time into it.

There is nothing wrong with living a life of financial isolation or fully dependent on the bank balance and being rich financially yet, It is just a limited and non-resilient way of living life. Any limitation works against our nature, leads to bondage, taking us away from our freedom to unlock the best of our potential.

Let’s say you want to go from Goa to Mumbai. Imagine there is only one way to go – by road. How vulnerable our transport system will be – there could be earthquakes, floods, road accidents, any reason for traffic disruption, and you are stuck – unable to reach on time. The transport system is resilient due to a diversity of options – road, rail, flight, and soon the sea link will come. But in our financial system – we are stuck with only one non-resilient way of transactions – via banks. We are vulnerable as we are fully dependent on it. We have already witnessed setbacks such as recession, inflation in the past due to national and international reasons.

So, What do I mean by Financial Freedom and Real Freedom?

It is the ability to live life the way you wish, irrespective of your financial situation, which ultimately leads to real freedom. It is the ability to choose the right tool and flexibility to oscillate between financial isolation to money-based transactions depending on a particular situation. The outcome is that you neither think nor stress about your financial situation.

Before we move to the tools of achieving Financial Freedom, let us start with a basic question – What is Money?

We keep on running behind it forever, hoarding it our whole lives, the rat race does not have ‘The End’ feature in it and we never pause for a single moment to ask. What is it that we spend so much time and energy on? What is it that leads to family disputes, crimes, even wars, and all sorts of social misconduct? Pause here and take a moment to think:

What is Money?

Most people think that it allows the exchange of goods and services or stores values for the future…. These are functions of money, it still does not define it. It is like if I ask What is Water? And you reply it is liquid, it removes thirst, it boils to vapor or freezes to ice – these are its functions. What is water actually – it is H2O. That’s it.

So, What is Money? It is a social agreement…… That’s it. An agreement that we as a society agreed to use for our financial transactions. Now it is digital numbers, or paper money before it was bird feathers, grains, precious stones. It is an agreement. Think over it. This agreement is only there to facilitate the goods and services that we use. Money is a middleman to access what you wish to have. Presently, this middleman is dictating the world, rising inequality, and ignoring the social and environmental burden.

If money is an agreement, that means it can be modified or rewritten, if it is not working for us – that is what agreements are all about. If we wish, we can design our own social agreement based on trust, shared values, time spent, or any asset or gifts you have – why can’t we transact with this new agreement designed on our own terms?

Let’s be creative.

So, the first tool towards financial freedom is: Get rid of your Leaks

We always tend to think about earning more to improve our financial situation. It is not common to pay attention to expenses. Money not spent is more powerful than money earned as you save your time and energy as well.

It is like filling water in a tank that is full of holes. If your water tank leaks, what will you do first: fill more water or fix the holes?

Get rid of every expense that is burdening you, that does not help you grow as a person, that does not align with your interest and values. So that, your financial energy is optimized to be used where you value it most. And after that, even if one drop of water comes in, it will be securely stored for its use in a way that unlocks your best potential.

A lot of time, energy and expenses also go into maintaining the things that one owns. It is not only you owning things, things also own you. Living a minimalist life can take so many leaks out of your way.

The second tool towards financial freedom is: Outsourcing your Expenses

There will be some stubborn expenses you were unable to get rid of. Find ways to connect with your community, by spending time & gaining trust – so that the transactions you want to do can be interchanged by trust, time or skills you have. Solve their problems, and your problem is solved by the resources they have.

It is better to choose other expenses to outsource in your community where you feel joyful by connecting to people with the same values.

The third tool: Transition values-driven expenses into earnings…

There are some expenses you love to do – due to its importance for your own values and interests. For example, you want to learn something new, the typical approach is to figure out ‘How can I do this?’ – which costs less time and money. you can start finding people who have achieved what you are striving for. People love sharing their experiences because it has made them realize the best of their potential.

Once again, the financial transaction is replaced with experience sharing transactions, further strengthening your community. It is a transition from the financial trap of freedom to real freedom of spending quality time with my values-aligned community enriching your potential further.

Fourth tool is to Change tool according to the situation

Most people find financial freedom difficult because they try to use only one tool for every situation. That is what they learned and know in practice.

How would you get to know the right tool for a particular situation?

You will be extremely effective in choosing only if you set criteria for everything you do. Whatever criteria is driven by your own values is best for you. There is no right or wrong. For some, the criteria is – ‘whatever I do in life has to be extremely lively for me and potentially benefit someone in society and the environment as an outcome’, for the other the right tool is something that boosts their inner joy and confidence.

The fifth tool creating a ripple effect for my real freedom is to Invest surplus resources in my own Community:

If a monkey hoarded more bananas than it could eat, while most of the other monkeys starved, scientists would study that monkey to see what’s wrong with it. When humans do it, we put them on the cover of Forbes magazine.

This stage could also be another freedom trap. The hoarding trap. Many people make their hoarding deadline, “let me collect $500k then I will quit everything and go on exploring inner gifts and the world”

Whatever you actually need, whatever you really really need, it is with you already. You do not need to put any money hoarding or milestone deadline. The only deadline is until the realization comes that you have been living a trapped limited life at the expense of an abundant of real freedom life. Just surrender and wonder with the surprises life may offer you.

On your journey of real freedom, you have already earned your community with diverse skills, transacting with them on the basis of experience, trust, time, value, and money. Now, you came to the stage of floating with a surplus of your own resources. This is the stage to create something unique out of your lived experience; be it a poem, music, book, talk, physical structure, anything to enhance the intensity of your actions. You can choose to invest resources in your community to have ripple effects on your creation. Ultimately, it enhances the best of your potential with these values-aligned tribes. You can live a much more fulfilling, happier, and engaged life as compared to when you were making traditional investments where you had no connection with any person or a particular asset.

Using these techniques, you do not need to first become financially rich to fulfil your dreams or getting trapped in the freedom race. , rather than highly linear money transactions.

Everyone has to find their own path to real freedom – it can not be compared or copied from anyone else.

I salute your curiosity to explore the best of your potential.