What Freedom Means to Me: A Mental Health Reflection

If I shared my views on my rights, liberties, and justices right now, it wouldn’t be a friendly post. The state of our country affects this greatly.  So instead, I’m going to talk about my freedom surrounding mental health. 

For a long time, when I thought of freedom, I only did focus on the societal aspect. But over time, I’ve come to understand something important. The kind of freedom I need most wasn’t outside of me. It was within. 

Today, freedom is something I hold onto dearly. It is not just an idea. It is a lived experience I fought hard to claim. 

Most of my life, I felt completely disconnected from myself.  I felt trapped in a body that felt foreign.  I felt confined in any way, shape, or form.  I’d be in a constant brain fog, I would feel disassociated, and just off. I didn’t feel like I had my roots firmly planted on the ground.  And when it came to steering the ship that is me? I had zero clue how to operate it. 

I didn’t know how to handle my emotions.  I didn’t understand my needs, and I didn’t know how to express myself.  I masked my pain.  I coped in silence. I questioned everything about myself.  Underneath all of that was a deep yearning to feel comfortable in my own skin.  To feel free. 

That freedom didn’t come easily. It came after years of unlearning the messages that told me I had to earn love by being “easy,” “quiet,” or “normal.” It came after facing my diagnoses and learning to see them not as flaws, but as keys to understanding my truth. It came through the messy, nonlinear process of healing—therapy sessions, breakdowns, breakthroughs, and everything in between.

Now, freedom looks like this:

• Knowing who I am beyond expectations or roles
• Honoring my needs without apologizing for them
• Setting boundaries and choosing peace
• Feeling my emotions without shame
• Living as my true self, without the mask

There’s a certain kind of liberation that happens when you finally stop running from yourself. When you stop performing and start being. That’s the freedom I’ve found—and it’s the most valuable thing I’ve ever owned.

I share this not because I’ve arrived at some perfect destination, but because I’m still walking this path. Still discovering. Still healing. But now, I do so without the heaviness of pretending.

And that, to me, is freedom.

“Freedom is not the absence of something. It’s the presence of self.”

Gabor Maté