Alexandra Konstanti

Freedom

I looked up the definition of freedom on the internet, and it was described as:
“True freedom is about being able to experience our emotions fully and authentically. It is about being able to live our lives without suppressing or denying any part of ourselves. It is about being able to embrace all of who we are, both the good and the bad.”

Kinds of Unfreedoms

I was reflecting on how people can apply this definition in today’s world. There is this concept in our minds—and for many, a reality—that we cannot truly be free in the modern world. There always seems to be something demanding an answer: a job that consumes a significant amount of our time and, most importantly, our energy and emotions; social media, which appears to offer freedom in how we spend our time but often turns into a time prison; a family that requires constant attention and responsibilities, waking us up every day to the weight of obligations.

When I wake up at 2 a.m. with my heart racing over all the decisions I have to make and the possible consequences they will bring, I do not feel free. When I filter my words three times before speaking, that’s not freedom either.

Being in a partnership or any kind of relationship can also feel challenging. A mix of needs, beliefs, blockages, and expectations sometimes becomes overwhelming. Someone often ends up staying silent to maintain the connection.

One person may feel smothered and asphyxiated, struggling between being themselves and cooperating with the other. This part doesn’t feel free and doesn’t know how to be.
The other person may feel abandoned and wronged, struggling between feeling appreciated and seen, while also trying to cooperate. This part also feels trapped.

Kinds of Freedoms

On Wednesday, November 20th, the first snow fell in Copenhagen. I was writing this piece and had already read about the freedom of every moment.
It mentioned that freedom comes from love. The universe is free to move, change, die, and be reborn—to improvise and adapt. As creatures in this ever-changing environment, we can find freedom by embracing each day as if it were our last, by loving ourselves, and by honoring our connections fully and deeply. This kind of freedom comes from love and gratitude, and it’s about embracing our emotions toward the world.

In that moment, watching the snow fall from my balcony, I felt free—if only for a little while.

In the movie V for Vendetta (highly recommended), a totalitarian regime has stripped humanity of all freedoms. The protagonist is locked in a cage, deprived of even basic human necessities. Yet, within her slavery, she discovers that her mind remains free. Her choices are her own. She is free to admire the small grass that found its way to grow through the concrete. And that is a true story.

This freedom is wrapped in hope. Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl shared a poignant example of hope: between Christmas 1944 and New Year’s 1945, the death rate in a concentration camp’s sick ward surged beyond all prior experience—not due to food shortages or harsher conditions, but because “the majority of the prisoners had lived in the naïve hope that they would be home by Christmas.” When this hope went unmet, many prisoners lost their will to live.
As Robert Kishaba explains in his piece, Hope: A Paradox, hope is purely an internal shift. I would argue that freedom is, too.

Lastly, freedom comes with knowledge—not as a logical product, but as an inner understanding. It is about sympathizing with yourself and acknowledging that the situation, the obstacle, or even life itself is hard. Yet, despite this, you choose to move, to be free.

Freedom: What Is It Really?

A scene comes to mind: a dog, chained for many years, one day breaks free when the rusty chain snaps. Instead of running, the dog stays put, wandering as if it were still chained. It doesn’t know what to do with its newfound freedom.

Then there is the man who captured that dog. Every day of his life, he did whatever he liked. He chained an animal. He abandoned it. He took all kinds of risks. He said whatever came to mind and acted on every whim. And yet, he was chained by his illusionary freedom.

“When we feel constrained, we never truly are.”
“A free person is someone who, even in places of unfreedom, finds a way to be free.”

What does freedom mean to you?

Can you recall a moment when you truly felt free?