Freedom And How Not To Squander It

Rueben and I spend a lot of time lately strategizing and planning as we draw closer to our launch date for a life of full-time travel, teaching, joy and freedom. Our planning and strategy sessions focus on finance and paperwork. We talk about risk. We play what-if games. What if we have vastly underestimated our expenses and we run out of money. What if some catastrophic scenario plays out? We try and anticipate as many possible scenarios as we can think of, and prepare a solution. We think, as we do this, that we are planing for the worst case scenario – squandering all of our money. But today, it hit me. The worst case is not that we squander our money and have to go back to work of some kind. The worst case scenario is that we squander our freedom. My ancestors (slave and otherwise) could not have fathomed this type of freedom. It is beyond anything they might have imagined. Freedom is, for me, the most precious gift you can give yourself. Our conversations quickly changed to how do we use this freedom? What is it to be truly free? When we get to the end of this full time travel phase, will we look back and say that we really made the most of it? What is it to truly live? What would be exciting? What would bring us joy? I think that answer is different for everyone. I have read the advice of many a truly free vagabond and they each have their own ideas. Tim Ferriss recommends learning the language and learning a physical skill local to the area, such as Portuguese and Tango in Brazil or Mandarin and martial arts in China. That sounds like a ton of fun. Others recommend simply exploring the local area through hikes and conversation with locals. That sounds great too. But life does not have to be choosing from a menu made by others. These ideas are great, but they are not mine. If I put the menu down, what do I want? What would give ME joy? What do I think would be fulfilling? What would feel purposeful to ME? I want to help people. I want to profoundly impact everyone I meet. I want to be a wandering healer, and teacher. I want to connect with the land and with the people. Moreover, I want to connect them to themselves. I want to grow this tree of peace that I have planted, for all humanity. Global peace is not just possible. It is inevitable. I want to speed it along. I want to show people their own possibilities; and dance and hike and breathe and love, all at the same time. That, to me, is freedom and is using my freedom to its fullest potential. What would freedom be to you?