Freedom
When we hear the word freedom, many of us think of national independence. I think of women throughout history who fought for opportunities and rights that many of us now take for granted.
One woman who comes to mind is Harriet Tubman. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped to freedom in 1849. Yet what makes her story extraordinary is not simply that she found freedom for herself. It is that she repeatedly returned to dangerous territory to help others find freedom too. Time after time, she risked her own safety so that others could experience the same liberation she had discovered.
Harriet Tubman understood something profound: freedom is too valuable to keep to yourself.
Today, most women are not fighting for physical freedom. We can vote. We can own businesses. We can pursue education. We can lead organizations, run for office, manage finances, and shape our futures in ways previous generations could only imagine. And yet, many of us still feel trapped not by laws, not by chains but by invisible constraints. We are trapped by the need to please everyone, by the fear of disappointing others, by the pressure to prove our worth, by expectations we never consciously chose, by guilt when we rest, by the belief that our value is tied to our productivity and by old stories that whisper, “Who do you think you are?”
The women who came before us fought for freedoms that expanded what was possible. Our challenge is learning how to fully step into what is now available.
The Freedom to Use Your Voice
Many women spend years becoming experts at keeping the peace. We soften our opinions. We apologize before speaking. We avoid difficult conversations. We stay silent when something matters deeply to us. Sometimes we do this because we’ve learned that being agreeable is safer than being honest.
Freedom includes the ability to speak our truth with kindness and courage. It means asking for what we need. It means advocating for ourselves. It means trusting that our voice deserves a seat at the table.
The Freedom to Rest
Somewhere along the way, many women inherited a dangerous belief: You can rest when everything is done. The problem, of course, is that everything is never done. There is always another email, another responsibility, another person who needs something. When we believe rest must be earned, we sentence ourselves to a life of exhaustion.
True freedom includes the ability to pause, to breathe, to play, to enjoy the life we are working so hard to build. Rest is not a reward for productivity. It is part of being human.
The Freedom to Change
Perhaps one of the greatest freedoms available to us is the freedom to evolve — to leave a role that no longer fits, to start over, to pursue a new dream, to redefine success, to become someone different than who we were ten years ago. Yet many of us remain loyal to old versions of ourselves long after we have outgrown them.
Freedom is not just the right to choose once. It is the permission to choose again.
The Freedom to Feel Truly Yourself
At its core, freedom is not simply about what we are free from. It is about what we are free for. Free to learn. Free to grow. Free to create. Free to contribute. Free to love. Free to lead Free to become.
The women who came before us expanded the boundaries of what was possible. Because of their courage, many doors now stand open. The question is whether we will walk through them.
As we celebrate independence this month, perhaps the most important question isn’t what freedoms we have inherited. Perhaps it is:
