What is freedom?
Freedom is “the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action” (Merriam-Webster). In other words, freedom is free choice.
Now, there is always choice. Every action has a choice element. You can get out of bed in the morning, or you don’t. You can have tea or coffee for breakfast. You can wear white or red socks. You can go to work or go to the beach instead. You can comment on an Instagram post, or just leave a like. ;-)
And even when there seemingly is only one alternative (if you only have black socks), you always have the “zero alternative” to not do anything and continue doing what you did before (and not wear any socks at all).
So, in principle, we all have choices. And under “normal” circumstances, we are not physically coerced into making a particular choice. So, in that case, are we free?
The thing is, every single action has consequences. Some consequences are almost non-existent, but some are quite severe. Our choices are hence not really free, because choosing anything other than the one (often undesired) option would have severe consequences. We are indirectly steered into making certain choices that not always coincide with our true needs and wants.
Freedom is not a boolean, it’s a float variable. And being free is an optimization problem with constraints. So if you feel trapped, there are two ways to increase your degree of freedom.
One is modesty. Restrain your own wishes and desires, so that your choice space has a higher overlap with your constraints – or in other words “Learn to be happy with your lot in life”.
The other is control. Take control of what is limiting your choices. Push the boundaries and expand your options. And sometimes maybe even totally remove some constraints and reach another level of freedom.