Fola Daniel Adelesi: Losing Your Freedom To Purpose

When people always talk about freedom without restraints, you can tell that they do not have a purpose or a serious responsibility. You are free to do whatever you want to do but that’s until you have discovered a purpose for your life or you have been given a responsibility that you need to be committed to.

Before I got married there were so many things that I could do without anyone being bothered but I dare not do the same now. Some of them will even be to the detriment of the marriage. When you go out you can decide to stay out until it’s late and no one is worried. You don’t feel like anyone is monitoring you; but when you make the choice to get married, one of the responsibilities that come with it is to be accountable to someone else with your resources and your time.

It is also the same thing when you have found a purpose for your life. I have written in time past, that there is a price to pay or there are sacrifices to be made. If there are dreams you are nurturing in your heart right now, you need to know that you will forfeit a part of your freedom in order to make that dream a reality.

Why is it so? Or why is it even necessary to let go some of your freedom just to have something done? Think about the degree that you have right now. When you went to school you signed an agreement with the school authority. You agreed to obey all the school rules and regulations. They told you where you could go and where you could not go. The irony of it all is that you were paying them – yet they told you what to do! Going by that argument, I can then say that it is not in all cases that he who pays the piper dictates the tune. When you pay people, you are supposed to be able to tell them what to do. But when you pay a school, the school still comes to spell out the rules and consequently limit your freedom.

You may not like the school rules. You may also disagree with some of the laws that will be made. Thankfully you really don’t have to like them in order to get your degrees. All you have to do is to comply and once you do that you can go home at the end of four years with a degree.

Now let’s go back to the purpose of your life. This is even far more important than all the degrees you can ever think about. If you can give up some of your freedom just to get a degree then you must be able to give up some of your freedom in order to fulfill your purpose or achieve some of the dreams in your hearts.

As a writer, I give up sleep a lot in order to write. Sometimes I give up watching television in order to write. There are times I feel like going out but I am compelled to stay indoors to make things happen. I remember there was a Saturday several years back when my father wanted me to attend a party with him. I had to turn down the invitation. There was power supply and I needed to use the availability, at that time, to do a lot of writing. More importantly, the house would be a bit quiet when everyone was out so I needed that serenity. It was not easy. He told me how important the party was and the big people that were going to be there. I still had to say to myself that there are many parties to attend in the future. I need to do this for myself if I will be relevant in that future.

What is that thing that you need to give up just to make your dreams happen? Check yourself today and take a second look at all the things you are enjoying in form of freedom today. You have to decide to readjust your schedule. Some of you need to lose some sleep either by sleeping late or waking up early. Some of you need to cut down on your TV time. Some of you need to cut down on your budget for gadget so that you can invest more in your dreams.

Please remember that nobody can force you to do the things you don’t want to do. The freedom some of your have to lose might be to make yourself accountable to a mentor or a spouse. You may say you don’t like being monitored but that might just be what you need in order to achieve that dream. Once you have a mentor or choose to account to your spouse, you are losing some freedom to purpose.

To become a great athlete or to stay fit you cannot eat certain things and you have to do regular exercises. You will pass by a bar of chocolate in the supermarket and you will have to pretend it does not exist. You know that if you eat everything then your dream of becoming fit or becoming a great athlete is already forfeited.

There is a price to pay for every dream. Losing some of your freedom is part of it and if you have not started, it is important that you start right now. At the end of the day, you will realize that the freedom you are giving up is nothing compared to the future that you desire. Give up that portion of freedom today and make your dream a reality.

Photo Credit: footage.shutterstock.com

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Fola Daniel Adelesi is a professional public speaker who also trains other speakers, an author, business consultant and highly skilled master of ceremony with excellent poise and diction. He was on the Debaters TV reality show season 1, presented ‘You Can’ on Radio Continental in 2011, did motivational segments on Galaxy TV from Dec 2008 to August 2009 and has authored 3 books including Writing Business Proposal