FREEDOM

I was lucky enough to be surrounded by too many shades of life. I would probably call my life, fifty shades of grey, not the book but the title definitely fits my life perfectly. It's been an interesting journey of people, discoveries, thoughts and realizations. And my new found freedom taught me to live life with no boundaries. Since I have found this life, people's thoughts and ideas have challenged me with a better understanding of the word "Freedom". I will say though, I have always been lucky to live my life the way I wanted, I was never a prisoner but always a wanderer. And not every choice I made was a great one whether it's people I briefly met, the so-called friends, the annoying co-workers, my acquintances etc, etc. But I thank those people today, because of them I found my way. Their illusioned thoughts and herd mentality made me question myself. There comes a stage in everyone's life when we have to make a choice. The real challenge goes to those who go against the accepted norm and choose not to go with herd. I remembered those people or friends who spent their childhood days studying endlessly, trying to fit the perfect society, repressing their teenage crushes by patting their backs for being the perfect kids, tied up by religious norms, and they even got married to escape their repressed life at home and now years later it sounds funny. Recently someone I know asked me " How was I different? "

Being different is not necessarily a Brag or an Ego, it's plain simple - you tend to do things that others have not ventured into yet. As a kid, you try to relate your likes and dislikes with other kids, and as a kid I was always curious about the inner workings of the self. I was the only skateboarder in my town, due to lack of infrastructure we didnt have skate boarding parks, so I used my neighbor's house back in the day, I got my driver's license when I was 14, way too young ( but was given permission to drive with an adult), had a lot of crushes and easily expressed them to my repressed friends, started traveling at the tender age of seven ( thanks to my parents, London was my second home), went rock climbing with no specific climbing gear, took a chance to go riding on an almost collapsing boat especially on a lake infested with crocodiles and so many more... I always had a thrill of doing something adventurous and most all, I did all this at age 13. Back in the day and where I come from, it was a bit unusual for a girl my age to be doing all these things while the rest of my girlfriends were too scared to ask for permission. It wasnt as if they were even interested in this particular way of life anyways... These adventures and hobbies did not define me as being different but it made me realize I have the hunger for exploring. I did not indulge in the same aspect of life as others, especially being brought up in a small town where everyone does exactly the same things as others, it's hard to choose otherwise. I think of those days and it makes me smile. It was like eve's dropping on my own life through my hobbies and likes. It was a realization of not being white or black, I wanted to be grey. I was going to vision things on my own terms and conditions. I had a blank canvas and I painted it with so many shades of my childhood days and didn't have to worry the subconscious indoctrination through society and culture. And reminiscing those days makes me feel like I lived it up and have stories to tell. I grew up with those experiences. People that came in my life, I opened the door for them and people that left, I opened the door for them too. And today in my adulthood, I feel I have grown up gracefully, only because I lived it up, broke the boundary and searched far and wide and made a decision to not only live free but to breath free.

Most of my blogs, I have emphasized on living free, only because I have understood the magnitude and greatness behind it. It opens a lot of different avenues. You will see the world more meaningful. Five years ago, having moved to a new city and making new friends helped me where I am today. The self sacrificing, loyal and ever-present friends who are as wild as my blog.. ( Haha)

And the freedom of mind I have realized now, is the one that I always held within, it just  needed a different approach. I have met people and still do, who try to project the freedom and their prisoned state of mind according to their circumstances. It's like blending oil and water. You can see them smile and long for what others have and somewhere in their hearts they surrender to the familiar ground they stand on, only because they have become conditioned by a certain mentality or way of life and that lack of allingment somehow destroys them due to various circumstances they face in life. Living free does not mean destroying yourself with randomness, it means opening up, accepting things joyfully because you chose it and not someone else. Waking up in the morning with a happy mind. You are the master of your domain. There is no society, religion or culture that can teach you that. I chose a life of no shackles and dependencies. Don't do things because your facebook friends wanted you to, or getting married because everyone else is, or have babies just because that's how it goes, or fake things just because you got nothing better to do. Just like RUMI said, 
" Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place."

I am my own thought. I never wanted to be a prisoner within myself, I wanted to feel the freedom that can only exist within. Sadly the world is so focused on it's mono-cultural aspect, "If you dont do this then you will be excluded from that"... At the end it's all within us to choose. Whether you choose independently or dependantly. I chose Singularity over Marriage, I chose being a Friend over a Lover, I chose having no Religion than being bound by one, I chose Travel over Pilgrimage, I chose Freedom...

WHAT'S YOUR STORY?