Freedom, Dianna style.
Ever wonder about the meaning of freedom?
Not the dictionary meaning but what it means to you?
Freedom from what?
What would it look like, and what would it feel like?
How is it different today than it was before?
How do you experience freedom in your life right now?
And how might that be different in the future?
All good put-on-your-thinking-cap questions.
We’re all looking for freedom of some kind. I’m no guru who spends a bunch of time getting into my head and heart to ponder these things. But I do get pulled in by triggers to start the ponder process and a big freedom trigger for me is listening to Janis Joplin sing Me and Bobby McGee.
Me and Bobby McGee is on of my all time fav songs. I love to sing it with all the heart that I imagine Janis put into it.
(It wasn’t all that long ago that one of my kids and I belted out the heartbreak of Bobby’s dumping Janis together on our own little road trip. Thankfully for them, my kids got the love of music bug too. or they may have had a very miserable upbringing! )
Whenever I listen to this song, the line that get’s me every time is “freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose”.
As much as I love Janis, I need to call bullshit. It’s not about needing to have nothing left to lose in order to feel free.
Freedom is being prepared to lose things in your life on your way to it. Tweet it out!
A freedom that is completely defined by you btw.
You can’t have empowering relationships with your kids if you don’t adjust your parenting to whatever developmental stage they’re in, even if you think they’re not ready.
You can’t have a successful entrepreneurial business if you don’t manage your gremlins and your fears, even if you think they won’t get in the way cause they will.
You can’t have fulfilling love, if you can’t let go of relationships that don’t serve you anymore, whether you are the unhappy one or not. Janis rocks this one damn well because after all, how free would she have felt to hang on to the fleeing Bobby?
Back to freedom. In my mind, you can’t have your definition of a kick ass life if you’re not prepared to lose what you have right now.
And it’s not the losing part of going for your freedom that’s the growth hormone here, it’s the being prepared. Being prepared means that you’ve done the inner and outer work to feel good about where you are in your life.
You’ve checked in with yourself and are clear about what freedom means to you.
You’re honouring what you know in your gut you need to say “so long” to, so you can feel the freedom you have decided you want.
And you know how to support your heart as all this life unfolds for you.
That leaves you ready and able to actually experience whatever freedom looks like to you, even if right in this moment it’s as simple as sipping on a quiet cup of tea or a glass of wine in a sunny window.
Gotta give respect to the great Janis Joplin. But as for you, you’re not flailing around with nothing left to lose, you’ve put on your big girl panties and made the decisions that are right for you and your life, big or small.
Like Janis, you rock.
ps Janis would have been 71 this week. Can you believe that? Check out this rare studio video of her singing Me and Bobby McGee. Many thanks to Amazing Women Rock for posting it on their blog.
Happy B-Day Janis!
http://youtu.be/irU5oihACj4
Dianna Leeder is thewomenscoach@cravemorelife.com/. If you like this post, feel free to share it, please just share the entire thing!
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