Freedom Challenge #2 Wrap Up + Winner Announced!
Announcing the winners of the 2nd Freedom Challenge: "What is holding you back from feeling more free?"
We had 12 submissions in total
I am constantly amazed by this community I am honored to participate in. Your words are so powerful, your hearts are open and you are passionate about freedom. I am learning so much from you all and am grateful to be part of this journey to discover and embrace our freedoms.
Many of you said that this was a difficult challenge in that it required a lot of deep thought and soul searching to answer. With so much going on in steemit, the internet, family and life in general:
Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time and effort to respond to this important question.
Announcing the winners of FreedomChallenge #2:
1st place winner for 6 SBD:
@skycae with Freedom Challenge: What is Holding Me Back from Feeling Free?
2nd place winner for 3 SBD:
@mountainjewel with Limiting ~~> Letting Ourselves Emerge | @sagescrub's #freedomchallenge
3rd place winner for 1 SBD:
@senorcoconut with A Contest for Freedom...
Congratulations winners! Please check your wallets for your reward.
Thank you everyone for taking the time to contribute to the discussion on Freedom. I really enjoyed reading all of your words and insights!
I've included the contest participants below here in one place, in order of their entry for your reading enjoyment. Included are quotes, but to do them full justice you really must read them in their entirety.
Until the next challenge... peace and may you live free!
Freedom Challenge #1 Submissions + Winners for the challenge: What does freedom mean to you?
What Is Holding Me Back From Feeling More Free?
by @funatoz
If we are living in community we have to be interactive and I know it but it's not happening with me. I don't know why? But sometimes I think may be it's my nature but same time I also think no one in my family is like that, so why I am like that. Sometimes it's not easy to give answer of every question and every why.
What is holding you back from feeling more free?
by @tryskele
Logically, I know that most things are not my fault. I accept responsibility for what is. I know I am in control of my life, my thoughts. However, reprogramming your mind is HARD. My job, and lack of pay and so forth is not what defines me. It is my actions that define me.
Freedom challenge #2: What is holding you back from feeling more free?
by @bthebest7
Parenting has given me an appreciation for time, and freedom, that I have never experienced before. I will never squander time again, as long as I live. Every free moment is relished, enjoyed to the fullest. I now have 2 new people in my life that I would die for, unbreakable bonds that will last a lifetime, I hope. People I can share the joys, accomplishments, as well as tragedies, and hardships of life.
Limiting ~~> Letting Ourselves Emerge | @sagescrub's #freedomchallenge
by @mountainjewel
The self that is seeking the light of day may be trapped because of thoughts. We can call these limiting because they’re tied to an existing idea. Let the unlimited potential of what you could be soar.
Freedom Challenge: What is Holding Me Back from Feeling Free?
by @skycae
But what is really holding me back from being totally free? I suppose along with freedom comes the ability to fail miserably! (on my own terms, ha ha!) I am not really failing miserably, but I definitely could be doing something different I think, in order to take my freedom and fully make the best of it! Nearly odd seeming, it seems to be discipline and ritual that I need now to fully embrace my freedom.
"What is holding you back from feeling more free?" A philosophical linguistic perspective. #freedomchallenge
by @coyoteom
I am a human, an animal, born into a caged system set in place long before my time. Until I can freely--in every sense of the word--choose a life entirely outside of this system, I will not have the opportunity to experience true freedom.
Why freedom Alludes Me
by @notconvinced
Because we need money, we allow a business to dictate what approximate time we wake up, go to sleep, decide what goes into our bodies, in many cases we are required to put work before family and our private lives, maybe missing your child's birthday or your own wedding anniversary. Nothing within this speaks of freedom. They even control our choices of the products we buy, as they offer us what they choose, not want we necessarily want.
A Contest for Freedom...
by @senorcoconut
It is the price of staying healthy in this Society that keeps me from feeling more free. Even by doing the right thing, eating the proper foods and exercising, I feel like I need health insurance. Luckily it is probably one of the cheapest out there as well as one of the best because of my work. But I still feel like I need it, I depend on it, my family depends on it, and that is not good for us. It's not good for our freedom. I must stay working a specific amount of time (away from our homestead) every six months in order to keep this insurance.
Your Freedom is Just Beyond the Red Tape
by @canadianrenegade
So here we sit in our tiny house with an abundance of vacant land, just waiting to be molded into a homestead. All I have to do is close my eyes and I am transported to this earthy retreat where the air is sweet and nature is plentiful but when I open my eyes again we're drowning in paperwork. I think I can safely say, these endless permits imposed on us by the government is what's currently holding us back from feeling more free.
Does Our Own Psyche Enslave Us?
by @minismallholding
Somebody once wrote that to be free in this society you need to be incredibly rich or pretty much a nomad or hermit with nothing. For most people both of these things are actually quite hard to achieve. It would be easier to just be able to opt out and choose not to pay taxes and in return not to receive any of the benefits, but that isn't an option.
Freedom Challenge #2
by @cecicastor
It has made me stronger. I do not bend. I peacefully stand my ground and study their laws so I am informed. It confuses them. I am not like other females that they have encountered. I do not play games. I am forth coming in business dealings. It has been a long time coming but I have gained the respect of my neighbors and those in local politics.
What (or who) is holding me back?
by @twinislandflames
We could all probably delve a little deeper and say that we have fear of various things that hold us back. I am definitely no exception. I am - I have been - constantly living in fear of losing control. I'll share the realization I had here, in case you want to stop reading early on: You can't lose something you never had in the first place. Seems pretty obvious, but seems so deep, right?
Beautiful post....upvoted and followed
all of them are nice but especially I loved so much photo of @minismallholding .
Awesome! thank you for this lovely contest, it is a great prompt to write on. I am excited for the next round!
Congratulations Winners. So many wonderful stories and points a view. Very heartwarming in many way. Mostly it's nice to you know you're not alone in the world.
I am so greatfull for what you're doing with these challenges @Sagescrub. Both challenges so far have made me really think about freedom in new ways and they've opened my minde yet again to new philosophies from reading other people's entries.
Thank you so much to you and to everyone who participated.
PS: There are still a couple entries I need to read but I will soon!!!
PPS: Gongratulations to the Winners!😁
I am in total agreement with you @senorcoconut :) Thank you to everyone here my mind has been opened more and with new appreciation for this life.
Man, these contest series are turning out very creative, and I'm sure it is making every participant really think about their answers!
Good job @sagescrub... can't wait to hear what the next theme will be!
Thank you for hosting this challenge and especially for posing this very important question. We can never ask this enough and each time we ask ourselves this, our own answers will never be quite the same.
The point being, we consistently need to question ourselves for a better understanding and to evolve.
You show a colorful and quality character and I am honored to have met you.
Thank you @notconvinced, you are very kind. Great point about questioning ourselves. One thing I like about steemit is that it encourages honesty, not just with each other but with ourselves.
Thanks for giving us such a fantastic topic to write about. We are told so often that we live in free countries that taking that phrase at face value is easy. Whenelse do we stop to really question our freedom, what it means to us, and what's holding us back.
I haven't had a chance to read many of the submissions but I plan to! Thanks for compliling them into one easy place to find.
-Aimee
You're welcome Aimee!! So true, we shouldn't just believe what we are told without coming to our own conclusion first :)