Living for Likes

We learn to fear our own freedom

There is an unusual paradox in human nature:

We want freedom, but freedom terrifies us.

When someone else tells us what to do, we can blame them.

When society gives us a script, we can follow it.

When our family defines success for us, we can pursue it without asking whether it is truly ours.

But when we become free, responsibility returns.

Now we have to choose.

And choice means uncertainty.

If I choose my own life, I can no longer hide completely behind expectations.

If I fail, the failure is mine.

If I succeed, the success is mine.

If I remain unhappy, I can no longer pretend I had no choice.

Freedom removes many excuses.

Perhaps that is why people sometimes remain in familiar unhappiness rather than walking toward unfamiliar possibility.

The known cage can feel safer than the unknown sky.