I think we’re living in an era where there are all kinds of choices. If you hate your job, you can switch careers. If you’ve hit your limit, you can take a leave of absence. If married life is rough, you can divorce. If the place you’re in now is painful, you can go somewhere else. But in reality, it isn’t that easy to choose. There’s money to live on. There are worries about the future. There’s also the fear of letting go of the place you’re in. There are the eyes of family and friends to worry about. Or, in the first place, you don’t even know what you truly want to do. So before you know it, you end up doing things you don’t want to do. At first it was for the sake of living. I didn’t want to be seen as weird by the people around me. I didn’t want to mess up in a big way. I wanted to look like I was doing things properly as an ordinary person. But as you keep at it, I feel like you gradually lose track of what you like, what you hate, and what you want to value. Even though the world is full of choices, maybe surprisingly few people are thinking for themselves and choosing their own path. I think it’s important to take responsibility for what I want to do, work hard, and take on challenges. Of course, I don’t think people who endure and work are weak.
I think people endure too much, or rather they delay decisions far too much. Freedom isn’t about “you can do as you please”; it’s about choosing what you’ll lose and taking on that responsibility yourself. As long as you run away from that, no matter how many options you have, you’ll end up stuck in a place that’s hard for the rest of your life.