Freedom

I took myself off to the Somerset Levels with a tent and my bike. I enjoy my own company and the few times I have managed to get away by myself has always been a wonderful fulfilling experience.  I had to take the ‘big’ tent which I successfully put up single-handedly. The campsite owner chuckled when I said I might need some help with the taller poles and promised he wouldn’t watch me. I think he promptly forgot about me as I had to seek him out to proudly tell him, “Don’t worry, I did it!”.

The freedom of travelling alone is important to me. Maybe it is because of the  roles I fulfil in daily life but the joy of pleasing myself, no compromises, rates right up there near the top. It’s a gift to myself and a form of self-love. I realise that I am blessed to have the freedom to do it. It enriches my life with experiences and challenges and when I’ve been stuck the Universe has always put someone in my path to help me.

This same self-care extends to giving myself the freedom to explore my feelings and emotions in safety. Although, I may need someone to realise that freedom by holding my hand, metaphorically or otherwise,  as I do it. There is relief in freedom of expression as my heart sings to its tune of poignancy or bliss.

Freedom has different values to different people. One person’s joy to have freedom from responsibility is in opposition to another’s joy in having the freedom to choose responsibility.

Freedom doesn’t just happen though. It is built – by laws, customs and culture, by loved ones and by our own choices. As a woman travelling alone I have to curb mine. I have to make considerations and have extra awareness that a man travelling alone does not. I can’t always go anywhere at any time, even in a “free” country. Freedom is to be valued and protected – in our families, our communities, in the political arena.