What makes us happy? Human connection?…partly, but just as instinctively there's a longing inside all of us for something else. Why are iconic road trips across the county with our best friends so fantasized? Why are books/movies like Into The Wild so popular? The simple answer is freedom. We all have a deep desire for freedom. When we look to punish someone, and we want to inflict the most uncomfortable circumstance, what do we do? We take away their freedom, we imprison them. Even in childhood we are put into time out. As a society we've decided taking away freedom is the most uncomfortable punishment we have without inflicting physical pain or death…
We are our own beings, we want to make our own choices. There are so many unhappy people in the world because they do whats "expected". We are taught to be contributing members of society, mirroring some picture of what we think our life should be, doing what other people have already done; very few are free. We work in jobs we don't like - spending most of our lives living from weekend to weekend. Often we follow the paths of others rather than creating our own paths. If we start to create our own paths many times we are shot down, sometimes by parents, often by grandparents, and sometimes by "friends." Why are we wasting the short gift of life doing the things we don't want to do? Do what makes YOU happy in life, who cares if it's unconventional, if it's not approved, or if you're the only one doing it; if you have everything you need, then none of that matters. The people that matter in your life will still be there. Whether on the beaten path or off - use your heart as your guide.
-Adam
