Find happiness in your journey towards freedom
There is a lot to be thankful for, when you are on the road to being unconstrained.
What is often confusing is that you don't necessarily know when you have reached your destination. Let me help you see when you are making a positive difference, how to detect it yourself and how to measure the progress.
This is a marathon - not a sprint
Let's remember what got us into a world of shackles. We, as individuals, did not see the traps. They were hidden (often in plain sight), but they came in the form of expectations handed down to us from parents, or as expenses that were assumed on the road to success. We forgot that we were really in control of lifestyle inflation. Yet we chose to create a much of an artificial environment around ourselves and our family, so that they would be protected from nature, other people, etc. Meanwhile we forgot that buying that house, that car, that furniture, the food we eat, the "permission slip" of a degree, etc. all came with such high costs that eventually the protection we all craved became the enslavement.
Undoing this takes time. I mean it probably took you decades to build it up. When you realized that you had created a monster, you can't just change on a dime. So you have to learn to be happy in the small successes that you get as we unravel the shackles. It is like solving a Rubik's cube. Each "click" you hear as you turn it, represents one small step towards ultimately solving the puzzle.
Persistence is key, but if you don't find happiness in each step, it is very hard to persist through the whole process.
Baby steps
If you are reading this article for the first time, much of this won't make sense until you go back through the history of this set of articles and realize the predicament that we are all in. My goal has been to build a community of like minded folk that all know that something is wrong - that we are not living in the utopia that we hoped for, and that we have to make changes to regain control in our lives so that we can then follow our true path. And that the path is an individual choice. But collectively we cannot find it, if we are shackled by banks, governments and social norms. We have to have the courage to break free of those chains and become unconstrained to be able to be the best human beings we can be.
So where to start? Well the good news is that we are commonly shackled by the same things. That business "scaled up" on its enslavement, so therefore changing one thing collectively will probably be a good start to move forward.
Let's look at a few things that we can change easily (and if you haven't done this immediately, you should):
Retail Banking
There are three types of retail banking in the United States, and chances are that this model has been exported to most western economies:
- Mega-banking
- Community banking
- Credit Unions
The Mega-Banking are Wall Street traded banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, etc. They gobble up each other routinely so the names may change, but the predatory policies won't. They are responsible to shareholders to show consistent profit gains, and therefore have to resort to vampire like tactics to extract wealth. This includes high monthly account fees, minimal interest paid to depositors, high overdraw fees, constant marketing of credit cards, loans, etc.
Community banking is more local. Usually for your state or maybe your state and its neighbors. They are under a lot of pressure - not so much from Wall Street as they are typically not publicly traded, but from regulators and governments who may (on the surface) show that they support them, but in reality they are being lobbied by the Mega banking industry to whittle down the threat from a more efficient upstart bank. That pressure is put back on the customer to share the same dysfunction that the mega banks have - high fees, high overdraw fees, marketing of loan services, etc. Yet unlike a mega bank, you can actually talk to a human being who probably gets to know you over time and may have more leeway to support you individually.
Credit unions are a member owned collective of banks. Rather than being publicly traded or a smaller "for profit" operation like a community bank, credit unions only exist to serve the needs of their members. Typically fees are lower, and you definitely get to know the banking staff. Sure, they move them around from branch to branch, but the credit union is more likely to support your interests. They may not be able to offer the same services that the mega or community banks can (particularly if you are a business and need business banking), but they can usually get close. And there isn't any predatory behavior (typically).
So the choice here is easy - if you are banking with a mega bank, get out now. Close your account and move over to either a community bank or (best choice) a credit union. Don't be lazy about this - yes, you will need new debit cards, checks, etc. but it is worth it. Once you have made the leap, you will not regret it and chances are you won't have to deal with this for many years. You will save thousands in hidden fees and you will finally get one step closer to being in control of your money.
Health
If you have not read this article, you should: Wanna live longer - Try this methodology
The article breaks health management into three areas: Preventative, Elective and Adverse. You can make changes to your life today in the preventative department.
Maybe you need to lose some weight. That's the first thing people gravitate towards because it serves their psychological sense of self. You should do this. But it is very hard to get immediate results here - it takes time to reprogram the mind as to how much to eat, etc. There may be an easier approach though.
Your mental and physical energy should be managed like a rechargeable battery. Without the appropriate level of energy, you will find it very difficult and often depressing to get through each day. It is not surprising. You have seen how lethargic a battery powered appliance gets when it is low on battery power. You are like that too. Most importantly the unconstrained have the clarity of mind to make strategic and rational choices, and that means you need to be alert, have a high level of mental energy and most importantly get enough sleep each night to get the most out of the following day. Just like recharging a battery.
What most people forget is that during the night in sleep, your body is healing. You need to make changes to your routine and possibly your environment get the best night's sleep. If that means investing in a decent mattress that helps you achieve a high degree of REM sleep, then do it. But the easiest thing you can do is this:
Your body has to digest food, and if you expect it to do this during sleep time, then you won't get the results of a restful sleep. This means avoiding eating red meat, or anything that requires a lot of digestion. Fatty foods that take a long time to go through your body won't work.
But most importantly, food that generates a lot of immediate but not prolonged energy (such as high carbohydrate, high sugar, etc.) will create a "buzz" in your body that makes it harder to rest. You will stay up longer, you will not sleep for extended periods, and you will eventually wake up feeling that you didn't get the rest you needed. Efficiency in what you do and clarity of mind is the only thing that will help you escape enslavement. If you are eating crap, you will feel like crap, and you will make crappy decisions. Very simple.
I would suggest looking at having a lighter meal at the end of the day - salads, etc. and cutting out the carbohydrates entirely after about 4PM, simply because of the impact with sleep. As a result, your body will get the optimal results in rest, and you will have an edge the following day.
Stop buying processed food junk
Fast food is not food. Fast food is a toxic chemical waste dump, in a bun. Plain & simple. You know this. But if you are still finding yourself in the car, waiting in line at the drive through, you are enslaved. Look at everyone else in the line. They are the lemmings in the same herd, going over the same cliff. If you are part of that herd, you are failing. Stop it.
If you don't plan for your meals, then you will become a victim to the food industry that is there to pump chemicals into your body and enslave you. Therefore you need to study what food provides you with the sustenance you need, has no trace chemicals that will distort your natural biology and then find sources for that food. Growing it yourself is the ultimate plan, but even that comes with the inheritance of a water table that may have pollutants, fertilizer, anti-biotics, etc. in it. We probably can't change that given the agronomics that 21st century society demands, but you can at least try and get as close to the food grower or farmer as possible.
Yes, it costs more. When you break free of the food supply chain and attempt to end-run it, you probably will pay more. But buying a side of beef from a farmer at a farmer's market, and paying for the freezer/storage for it, will result in you probably eating less of it over time. That is because the flavor in said food is real. Nothing artificial and your brain won't need as much of it, or need it as frequently, if it thinks that it is getting the appropriate dosage.
Transport
For many of us, we need high availability of transport. This might be to get the kids to school, get to work, etc. But consider this - your car sits in a parked state for 95% of the time. In that state, it is depreciating in value rapidly and since most combustion engine cars require high degree of liquids in them (e.g. oil, fluids, etc.) those liquids do not work optimally if they are sitting idle. If you go on vacation for an extended period of time, you may need to ask someone to "turn your engine over". This is simply to move the flow of liquids around so they don't congeal or lose their efficacy.
Making sure that your vehicle is working in the most optimal way is your responsibility and something you should not dismiss. This is simply because no matter how new, how much new tech is in there, etc. they still need you to maintain it. That means following the manufacturer's recommended schedule to get optimal life out of the car.
Now here is something you should understand. The business model of most automobile manufacturers that are publicly traded corporations for the most part, require that they constant sell and re-sell you a car every 5 or so years. Therefore after about the year 2000, they stopped creating cars that are expected to last that long. This means they are creating a liability in landfill dumping, junk yards, etc. that we all will wear. However from a financial point of view, they are creating a residual income stream that they can pretty much rely on. You have to recognize this trap and avoid it.
How? I'd suggest looking at purchasing older cars that don't subscribe to that model. And ideally investing some time in learning how they work so that you can maintain them. There is no reason (with proper maintenance and care) that you cannot yield 300,000 miles from a well built engine. Or transmission, etc. And that with proper care, you will achieve this. And yes, you will pay more with your mechanic to keep the older car on the road. But you are supporting local businesses here. Not some mega corporation that only wants to enslave you into a residual income stream business model to support their Wall Street investors constant demand of increasing stock prices.
If you accept responsibility for your transport, or choose to avoid using cars altogether and ride a bicycle or take the bus, you are doing more for your economic situation (massively) and you are keeping waste down. I believe that in time we will see autonomous cars providing a much better way to "ride share" and leverage transport than all of us having to invest tens of thousands into our own fleet of vehicles. But that is 5-10 years out, so until then realize you don't need that new car. You need to take what you already have and repair it, maintain it, and appreciate it for what it is able to do for you. Not impress a bunch of people you don't care about that you have the latest ride.
Think locally
This brings me to the last easy change you can make. Realize that we, as a community, are all in this together. We all face the same shackles and obstacles on our path towards being unconstrained. Not only should be celebrate each other's victories, no matter how small or large, we must also support each other at the local level.
When you support a small business or local vendor, you are directly injecting money into their economy. Hopefully they then do the same. This means at a local level, you have the greatest efficacy. But when you spend money with a Wall Street traded public company, the end user rarely sees the benefit. That money goes into the machine that ultimately benefits the shareholders. They will lay off staff if a robot will do the work, leaving your community with the waste dump of unemployment. Meanwhile the mega rich still have their corporate jets, yachts and 15 homes around the world. I don't begrudge them having that, but I do if it comes at the expense of the local community.
So before you spend $1 of your hard earned money, ask yourself, "Can I spend this with a local business?". If the answer is yes, even if it is more expensive, do it. Because the money flow will come back to you with more opportunity, more choices and a return to a true free market that will keep pricing in check and reward those with creative and inventive natures to create the next thing.
You see happiness is infectious. And at the local level, you can make a difference. Not only to your immediate life with some of these quick changes, but to others in your local community. Hence it all comes back to you in the end.