Freedom: Where We are Headed in the Next Five Years

Carrie Jones — ‘The secret of happiness is freedom, the secret of freedom is courage.’

Freedom is the power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.

Freedom is the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved.

Though to be fair, I grew up with Janis Joplin’s definition of freedom as being “Just another word for nothing left to lose”.

However you see freedom, however near, or far away you think it is, I am here to tell you that the world is changing. We are waking up to freedom, and the myriad ways it can be achieved, cultivated and maintained.

Here’s my freedom backstory.

Freedom used to be available to me at weekends — if I still had the energy for it.

Freedom came in a box that looked like 5 weeks of annual leave a year.

Christmas holidays unfortunately were not freedom — they were a hot mess of obligation and compromises.

Back in those days, I didn’t know there were any viable alternatives — other than retirement. So that’s what I planned for — early retirement in 5 years.

And that’s how the joke ran. But it’s no laughing matter.