The Freedom Capstone

Today I just found out that ArenaNet was extending me an offer for their first design intern position. This comes as fantastic news, and really serves to highlight what Freedom has done for me. This whole past week, starting from last Friday afternoon, has been completely crazy and very tense; that is when I first sent in my application and received a design test back from them. And throughout this entire week, it was Freedom that guided me through many of the challenges that I would face during my application process.

I won't get into specifics, but most of my drive came from two sources; inspiration and motivation. Freedom provided both of these, but in a rather unusual way. For the inspiration, whenever I was faced with a difficult problem, rather than trying to solve it in as direct a way as possible(as I would have been likely to do before Freedom), I took a step back and looked for alternate solutions that would give me the most flexibility in how I wanted to proceed, but would also give ArenaNet everything that they wanted from me. This approach made me a lot more comfortable with my decisions, which I believe contributed a lot towards my successful application.

The other source, motivation, was already present. As a matter of fact, Freedom is why I decided to apply to ArenaNet in the first place. I knew that my preferred work style would fit in well at ArenaNet, possibly more so than any other company I know of. As a result, I was far more motivated not just to get a job, but to get THIS job. That is something that constantly pushed me to go above and beyond what I originally thought I was capable of doing, working a solid 20 hours(!!!) over the weekend to make sure that my design test was the best it could be. 

I'm not sure what the future holds, or even how long I will keep Freedom as my alignment. What I do know is that Freedom has helped me improve myself in many ways, from professional to personal, and I am truly glad for having had this experience.

No Regrets

It occurred to me recently that I have never regretted a decision I have made with Freedom. As often happens in life, you sometime need to make choices without knowing much about how things will turn out as a result. This can be scary, and often leads to a lot of second-guessing and what-ifs... things which humans are naturally drawn towards doing, but unfortunately don't advance us in any way, as we can't change the past.

The funny thing is though, with Freedom I have not done any of this. Even weeks and months after many of the decisions I have made, I find my mind wandering into that old antipattern of what-if... before realizing that yes, I DID make the correct decision, and that there was absolutely nothing else I could have done to make the situation better. Every time I asked myself 'what does Freedom want to do?' before making a choice, I was usually very satisfied with the result, but at the very least was always content.

This has, in many ways, allowed me to redirect a lot of that focus on the past into the future. The time I would have spent worrying about past decisions is now focused on what I can do in the future to secure more happiness. While my actual thought process hasn't changed much, my overall life satisfaction has definitely improved... and I only have Freedom to thank for that.

Path of Freedom

Last week I had a ton of work I needed to get done; I was absolutely swamped. Having no idea how I was going to get everything done, I knew that I would have to put in long hours over the weekend if I was to make some headway on my projects.

Then the weekend came and Freedom told me not to.

It was an interesting experience. I forgot about all of the work I had to do for that entire weekend, focusing only on myself and my own well-being. This greatly reduced my stress and fatigue, and as a result I went back to work on Monday and looking at my to-do list, which seemed to have been cut in half.

It wasn't actually cut in half, of course, because none of the work on it got done. However, being able to step out of the grind and re-engergize allowed me to dive in on Monday and complete tasks at record speeds, ultimately finishing more work on Monday and Tuesday than I probably would have completed if I had worked Sautrday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday without that break.

Never forget how important time off can be, and listen to your body when it tells you it needs rest.

Personal And Professional Freedom

While I feel that I have made enormous strides towards happiness by utilizing Freedom in my person life, I have been lagging behind when it comes to applying Freedom to my professional life. I seem to be stuck in an old way of thinking where I focus too much on duty, obligation and self-discipline. This is confusing for me, because I used to hold self-discipline as one of my greatest traits. I still certainly see value in it, but the problem arises when this discipline directly clashes with my Freedom. On one hand, we have a trait that is highly valued in society and consistently delivers good results. On the other hand, we have a the virtue of Freedom, which I have proven time and time again brings me happiness.

I don't have an answer to this problem yet. In an ideal world, I would be able to drop any task that conflicts with Freedom and not worry about it. However, when the realities of survival such as work, paying bills, and graduating come into play, I find that I am obligated to do certain things I would rather not do. Theoretically, I could simply not do these things, but the consequences of not doing them would result in a loss of Freedom as well. It's sort of a lose-lose situation; one way or another, Freedom is restricted.

I suppose the true answer for this question is to ask for help, and see if some alternatives can be developed.

A Big Decision

I have been considering LASIK surgery for some time now, but was always held back for one reason or another. I was always worried around the risks, recovery time, if it would be worth it... and of course, the price. As a college student, I don't exactly have a lot of disposable income, so a major surgery like that is expensive.

However, after hearing an ad on Pandora the other day for a free consultation, I decided to make an appointment just to see if I could learn more about the procedure in general. Today was that appointment, so I went in to learn more about LASIK and see if I would be a valid candidate.

advancedvisionnetwork.com 

During the consultation, I was able to have all of my concerns addressed. I learned a lot about LASIK in general, but I also learned a lot about the different financing options. Up-front, the cost is very intimidating, but spread out over three years and it suddenly seems a lot more manageable.

The biggest thing I learned was personal, however. During the consultation, I realized just how liberating having LASIK would be. I would no longer need to worry about my glasses falling off when climbing, or wear special prescription goggles underwater when swimming. I wouldn't have to worry about contacts(Something that has been tremendously difficult in the past with my Sensory Processing Disorder) but would still be able to reap all of those advantages. I also wouldn't need to ever replace my glasses or contacts, and would, in short, have one less thing restraining me and holding me back. 

I realized after learning all this that the cost of the procedure in dollars was insignificant compared to the cost of missed opportunities from not having it. I couldn't afford not to go ahead with the procedure.

Starting now, I'm going to spend the next week researching different clinics and ways to pay for the procedure, but one thing is for certain; by the end of the year, I will have had LASIK and broken another one of my chains.

The Magical Unicycle Journey

Last week I had an experience that was fundamentally different from anything that I had ever done before, and it only happened because of my alignment. I have dubbed the event my Magical Unicycle Journey, because it truly was transformative... and it all started with a unicycle.


I was riding my bike home from school, taking my usual route. Along the way, I spotted a man riding a unicycle coming from the other direction. He passed me, then turned off on a pathway that led through a nearby forest. Before I found my alignment, I would have made a mental note of 'Huh, that's interesting...' and kept on going. And that is exactly what I did, at first.

But then I had a moment where I realized I wanted a picture of the unicyclist for my scrapbook, and that if a man was riding a unicycle through a forest, he certainly knew something about freedom. So I turned around and followed him.

 

By this point the unicyclist was so far ahead that I couldn't see him. The path continued on for some distance, and eventually split. I didn't know which way the unicyclist went, but on a whim I proceeded further into the forest. This led me to a very large staircase, which was an unexpected sight, to say the least. 

 After walking my bike up the rather steep path, I came out in Narnia Suburbia. This helped explain the staircase, but it only piqued my curiosity even more, as I had no idea that anybody lived out here.

 

I proceeded to travel through this unknown land, taking in all of my surroundings. It was a chilly day, but my elation kept me going forward,unwilling to turn back the way I had came.

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 I passed rows upon rows of houses, and even a small playground, before I found an actual road.

 Apparently, I came out in Kirkland.

 From here, I was able to navigate to Redmond Way, and follow that back to my home.

 It was a 40-minute journey; much longer than my typical 10-minute commute. I certainly took the long way home, but although I never found the unicyclist, I definitely had an uplifting and memorable experience that I never would have been able to experience otherwise.

My final route:

Onward, to Discovery!

The Tree of Freedom

In the course of practicing Freedom, I have made a discovery that to me Freedom can take the shape of a tree. This may seem odd, as trees are static, immobile and rooted in place, but despite this they share many traits that I feel are important for Freedom:

1) Trees and Freedom both require roots in stability. For me, I cannot practice Freedom without knowing I have a strong foundation to reach out from and to fall back to when I fail. Having the security of knowing you have this sanctuary to retreat to does wonders for encouraging me to go all out and try new things.

2) Tree seeds are scattered on the wind or by animals, and when they grow they make to with what they were given and reach out to the heavens. Their branches extend out towards the sky, seeking the warmth and glory of the sun which makes them happy. I also yearn to spread out my branches towards the joy and wonder that makes me happy.

3) Trees are flexible, and bend when stressed but take much, much more pressure to break. This flexibility is what makes trees so strong and durable, able to withstand punishment and yet continue to strive for the sky and it's wonders.