This may sound like a silly question but, if you think about it, independence means many different things to different people. When I started thinking about writing this post, I was thinking about the independence you feel when you can do something with out someone else’s help. Then I started thinking about independence as freedom from oppression that people face in other countries. Then I started thinking about when I was in high school and one of my best friends got her driver’s license. That led to independence (of sorts) from our parents driving us around (they still gave us a curfew so, we weren’t totally independent of them until later on).
There is also the independence you experience when you move out of your parents house to your first apartment or when you go off to a college dorm. You begin to find out who you are as a person without your parents dictating your every move. It also means being able to do whatever you want without having to ask anyone’s permission.
When you ask someone how it feels to be independent, they will probably tell you how great they feel because of their new-found freedom. I started thinking about how it feels to be able to do things on your own, yet another aspect of independence. I am talking about things that most people find easy, like, for example, cutting a piece of meat for the first time when you haven’t been able to do this before. It may sound silly but, it’s like a whole new world opens up. All of a sudden you don’t have to rely on others to do it for you anymore. You actually feel like a new person.
I had that experience many years ago. In fact, I tell people about different things I use to make my life easier and it is like a lightbulb goes off over their head. They either tell me “I never thought something like that was available” or “I never thought you had some difficulty doing (fill in the task here) because you make it look so easy.
Being more independent in your everyday life gives your self-esteem and self-confidence a boost. It makes you think “if I can accomplish those things that were once hard for me, I wonder what else I can do?”
What does independence mean to you?
Thanks for reading…
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